Broken Paradise
by missefron15
Summary: "Life goes on, it gets so heavy; The wheel breaks the butterfly, every tear, a waterfall; In the night, the stormy night, she closed her eyes." Her paradise was broken and she needed him back to pick up all the pieces. TxG
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I told you guys in my last chapter of Blame It On The Rain that I was making a new HSM story and here it is. I've already written four chapters and that was all today. This is kind of based on the song "Paradise" by Coldplay. I think this is something you are going to love. I've never really written this kind of stuff before but I hope you all enjoy my new story :)

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><p>Broken Paradise<br>written by missefron15

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

She stared into the mirror that hung in her bathroom. The dark and malicious spots all over her upper body stared right back. The blackness overwhelmed her but the insanity of the dark purple concerned her. She placed her right index finger of the biggest spot and touched it. She cried out in pain. She couldn't contain her hurt or the feeling of being sore.

She didn't remember how she got this way. She knew how she got the bruises but she couldn't remember why she stayed so long. She wished for it to go away. The pain that she felt every day when a patient asked if she was alright instead of her asking if they were okay; the numbness she felt when she couldn't even get dressed in the resident locker room because she was scared of what the other residents would say about her.

She was scared; absolutely terrified.

She looked into the mirror and stared at the girl looking back and saw tears coming from her soft brown eyes. Her once long brown hair now cropped to her shoulders hung loose and curly but a strayed.

She couldn't even remember the last time she put a comb through her hair. She always had a pony tail hanging on her head that she never did anything to fix it, not like she felt pretty enough to do so.

She felt…lost; alone.

"Gabriella!" the voice that made her cringe every single time he spoke her name. She quickly closed the bathroom door and turned the shower on to make it sound like she was taking a shower. It didn't take long before the banging on the bathroom door started. "Open the door!" he shouted.

She froze up before finding enough energy to speak. "I'm taking a shower! I'll be out in a few, okay!" she hollered back, just hoping that he would get the message and leave her alone for a while.

The pounding on the door stopped. "Hurry up! We're late for work!" he yelled back behind the door and vanished so she could do her thing.

She grabbed her wrist watch and noticed it was four in the morning. He had an early shift at the hospital. She sighed and started to take off her clothing, deciding that she was going to go ahead and take a shower.

She peeled off her long sleeve shirt and noticed more bruises on her upper arms. She winced slightly when she brushed against the wall taking off her shirt. She threw it onto the ground and peeled the rest of her clothing off and stepped into the shower.

The hot water melted onto her light golden skin. The bruises burned from the heat but the water felt sensational. She couldn't remember the last time she had a hot shower. Week's maybe.

She started to wash her body slowly making sure not to hurt herself in the process. She failed miserably. The steaming hot water poured against her back as she turned around and leaned her head back.

She couldn't believe she let it get this bad. It was never like this. It would have never happened if _he_ hadn't left her to attend his school in Los Angeles. She had it all with _him. _A great romance, the love of a lifetime as her grandmother liked to call it. Now she was empty. So empty that no milk carton could fill her back up again.

She was only twenty-five years old. She shouldn't be in this position at this age. She was a 3rd year resident at Albuquerque Fields Hospital here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She'd always wanted to be a doctor ever since she was little. So when her letter came in the mail, she went for it…and _he _went away to Los Angeles.

She finished her shower and got out, clearing the foggy mirror; the image that stared back was the same. Broken and bruised. If _he_ was here…she wouldn't be in this stage.

"Gabriella! God damn it! Hurry the hell up!" he pounded on the door and shouting.

She wiped her falling tears and nodded. "I'll be out in a minute, Henry!" she shouted out to him.

She glanced back in the mirror and thought back to a time where she was happy; where she felt alive.

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><p><em>Thirteen years ago…<em>

"_Gabriella, honey! Come inside for dinner before it gets cold!" the voice of her grandmother spoke. She looked down and saw her grandmother just shouting into the front yard like a crazy woman. She smiled to herself and shook her head and closed the current book she was reading. _

_She placed the book beside her and looked up into the sky that was slowly changing from a light blue to beautiful hues of pink and red. "It's gorgeous, isn't it?" she heard somewhat near her._

_Gabriella looked over to the right and saw who was speaking to her and smiled. "It sure is," she spoke to him._

_His bright blue eyes flashed to her soft brown orbs and smiled his perfect smile. "How have you been, Gabriella?" he asked, his eyes softening._

_She sighed and looked down below her from the roof where she was currently sitting on right by her window sill. She didn't know how to answer his question. She was okay physically but mentally she was a wreck. "I don't really know, Troy." She spoke, glancing back into his ocean filled eyes._

_He was sitting on his balcony looking up at her and he sighed. "I'm sorry what they did to you." He told her sincerely._

_She laughed, "Why? You're not their only child they up and left." She spoke sarcastically._

_He gave her a pointed look. "You know what I mean, Gabriella." _

_She sighed and shook her head. "You know what they said to me?" she spoke up after a minute._

_He looked up at her once again and waited for her to speak. "Firstly they told me they got a divorce about a year ago…but just stayed together for me. Then my mom tells me she's moving away to Las Vegas and my dad told me the he is gay." She said with a shrug to her shoulders._

_Troy stared at the young girl who looked broken from what her parents did to her and he couldn't ever imagine having to go through that kind of pain. He's been Gabriella's neighbor since she was born. He was only two-three years older than her, her being twelve and he just turned fifteen. _

_He couldn't believe the way her parents did her, just up and leaving giving only a little explanation to why they were leaving. _

"_I'm sorry they did that to you." He whispered loud enough for her to hear._

_She shrugged her shoulders and he saw her wipe a stray tear. "Its okay, Troy. It's not like you have to deal with this mess."_

_He looked at her. "If it was me…I would want a friend to help me through it all…" he trailed off._

_She looked at him confused. "I really don't have that many friends, Troy." She whispered._

_He gave her a small smile. "You got me." He told her simply._

_She laughed. "I do?"_

_He smiled with a nod. "Of course. I'm always here for you if you need me." He spoke with a white grin._

"_Gabriella! Come inside!" her grandmother shouted._

"_Coming Nana!" she yelled._

"_Hello Troy!" her grandmother spoke._

_Troy looked down and saw the woman that made him fear school sometimes. "Hello Mrs. Darbus." He shuttered slightly._

_Rose Darbus looked at the young boy who was in her homeroom at the East High School and laughed. "Troy, I'm not going to hurt you, darling."_

_He shook his head, "I know that Mrs. Darbus."_

"_How many times have I told you to call me Rose when we're out of school?" she asked with her hands on her hips._

_Troy gave a small smile to his teacher, "About a billion."_

_Rose smiled. "Well start calling me it then." She spoke to him and then turned her attention back to her granddaughter. "Gabriella, I'm growing older and hungrier. Come inside."_

_Gabriella laughed, "Yes Nana. I'll be there in a second." She told her._

_Rose nodded, "You better. I'm counting the minutes." She spoke, pointing her wrist watch._

_Gabriella smiled. "Mmkay." She watched her grandmother go inside and then turned to see that Troy was watching her. "What?"_

"_How is it that you are related to her?" he asked.  
><em>

_She laughed and shook her head. "That is my mother's mom. When my parents didn't want me, Nana moved in and now she's my guardian until I reach 18." _

_He smiled at her, "She frightens me sometimes."_

_She laughed, "You'll get used to it. I love her, so I'm not complaining."_

_He smiled when she laughed. Despite the age difference, he thought she was a gorgeous young woman. "I know you love her. I can tell."_

_Gabriella looked at Troy with insight. "We've really never talked before, how come?"_

_Troy looked at her and shook his head, "I really don't know. I guess I'm always busy with my friends and going to high school that I've never had the courage to talk to you." He told her._

_She gave him a weird look. "Courage? What are you a secret agent?"_

_He gave her a weird look, "I don't know how that involves courage but I do want to be an agent. An agent for the FBI."_

_She raised her eyebrows, "You want to be an FBI agent?"_

_He laughed, "Yeah. I don't know, it's just a dream of mine."_

"_You've been watching too much White Collar."_

"_How'd you know I like that show?" he asked with a laugh._

"_Maybe because your mom told my mom when she was still around."_

_He laughed, "That would be why."_

_She sighed and looked at him once more, "I think that's good that you want to be an FBI agent when you grow up."_

_He smiled, "What about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?"_

_She sat there for a second and then turned to him, "A doctor."_

_He raised an eyebrow, "Oh, you do now?"_

_She laughed, "Yes, I do."_

_He smiled, "That's good, Gabriella."_

_She looked at him, "You can call me Gabi instead of Gabriella. The only person who really calls me that is my Nana."_

_He looked at her, "Okay, Ella."_

_She raised her eyebrow at him again, "Ella?"_

"_Everyone calls you Gabi besides your grandmother. I'm calling you Ella."_

_Gabriella looked down with a small blush appearing on her cheeks. "I should get going before she starves to death," she told him._

_Troy smiled and hopped off the ledge of his balcony. "I better go too."_

_She climbed to her open window and peaked at Troy once more before going in, "Thanks for talking to me, Troy."_

_He looked at her before going to his balcony doors, "Thanks for talking back." He smiled at her before they both went into their houses._

_Gabriella walked into her bedroom, laid her book on her bed and headed downstairs for dinner. When she reached the dining room she saw her Nana sitting down at the table waiting for her. "Was your conversation good with Mr. Bolton?" her grandmother asked._

_Gabriella blushed slightly, "Yes, Nana."_

_Rose smiled at her granddaughter's blush. "You like him, don't you?" she asked as Gabriella sat down next to her and began eating her pasta._

_Gabriella looked at her and smiled, "Just a little bit, Nana."_

_Rose grinned at Gabriella, "That's good. He's a good boy."_

"_You know what he told me tonight? He wants to be an FBI agent when he grows up."_

_Rose looked on with interest. "He does?"_

_Gabriella nodded, "Yep and I told him I want to be a doctor."_

_Rose looked at her, "You do?"_

_She nodded and smiled at her Nana, "Yeah. Papa was a doctor and besides my parents, you've raised me all my life with Papa and he's always inspired me."_

_Rose felts tears building in her eyes at the thought of her late Husband Nicholas Darbus. He was a great General Surgeon at Albuquerque Fields Memorial Hospital here in New Mexico. "That's great darling," she spoke patting her granddaughter's hand. "Absolutely great."_

_Gabriella smiled at her grandmother and then smiled at the thought of Troy talking to her tonight. It was a really great day besides the fact of how bad the last two weeks have been. She finished her dinner and went upstairs to get ready for bed. _

_Her mind went back to her talk with Troy. She felt….whole again. Maybe he would be there to help her in the process. Process of moving forward again._

_She would just have to wait and see._

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><p>She pulled herself from her memory, wrapped herself into a towel and opened the bathroom door to see that her boyfriend of two years was standing there looking at her. "You take way too long, Gabriella." He snapped at her, brushing past her and into the bathroom so he could brush his teeth.<p>

She stood there silently and began to get dressed into her light blue scrubs. When she was finished getting dressed she saw Henry dressed in his dark blue scrubs. Light blue ones were for the residents. Dark blue for the attending's. Yes she was dating an attending. The lead cardio surgeon there is in New Mexico.

They walked down to his car and both got in and sat in the early morning traffic. During the lapse of silence she thought of _him._ She didn't understand why she was all of sudden thinking about _him._ She hadn't thought about him in almost six or seven years since he left her to attend training school for the FBI.

Henry didn't know her ex was in the FBI or that the fact that she had an ex. When they had first met on her first day of her internship, he asked if she ever had a boyfriend before and she lied and said she hadn't. She wished she hadn't lied, maybe he wouldn't be as mean as he was to her.

"Why are you quiet?" Henry's voice interrupted her thoughts.

She turned to see that his jaded green eyes were staring hard into her brown eyes. His black hair was all over the place and it looked like he just rolled out of bed. She finally got the courage to speak to him since the apartment. "Just thinking, Henry." She told him quietly.

He continued to stare at her, "What are you thinking about, Gabriella?" he asked, using her full name which only her Nana called her that.

Nana.

The sound made her want to smile. She hadn't seen her Nana in a year. Henry wouldn't let her see her only family member that meant the world to her.

She couldn't even really remember what happened the last time she spoke to her Nana. She knew her Nana was still working at East High School. She was only 70 years old and still healthy as a horse.

Gabriella wanted her Nana so much right now. "My Nana, Henry."

Henry's eyes grew cold. "Well stop thinking about that old hag, Gabriella." He snapped at her once again for the second time that morning.

She sighed, "I can't Henry. She's my only family."

"No it's not. You have me now." He told her and he turned his attention back to the road they were driving on.

Gabriella sighed and turned her attention towards the window and watched as the rain fell down. She pulled out her iPhone that her Nana had bought for her when she started interning at the hospital. She touched her photo app and looked at all her photos. The one that stood out most was the one that Nana had sent her two years ago of _him._

_His _mother had sent a picture to her Nana to update on how he was doing and it had looked like he was doing perfectly fine. He was wearing black slacks, a white shirt that was rolled up to her elbows and his FBI badge was hanging on his belt buckle. He was smiling and in the picture and he looked happy.

She was happy for _him._ So happy that he was moving on and living his dream. She only wished she could have been living her dream out with him.

She closed out the photo app and went to her messaging. She looked beside her and saw that Henry wasn't paying any attention towards her and she continued to her phone. She discretely put her Nana's number into the message and wrote a quick message to her.

_I'm sorry, Nana. I love you._

She pressed send and clicked her phone off. She knew her Nana wouldn't receive the message for awhile since it was almost five am in the morning; but she knew she would eventually get it.

After about fifteen more minutes in the car, Henry pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and they both got out and he locked the car. "I got to head in. I'm late." He snapped and left her standing there beside his car.

She sighed and walked inside, not caring if she was early or late. She went into the hospital doors and made her way towards the resident locker room. When she reached the locker room, she went inside and saw her fellow residents were in there and already getting ready for their shifts.

"Gabi!" her friend Taylor spoke when she looked up.

Gabriella looked at the dark-skinned girl and smiled slightly at her. "Hi Taylor," she spoke and smiled once more.

Taylor noticed something was off about her friend. Ever since they started their internship together she seemed fine until she got together with a fellow attending. "I thought your shift was at six?" she questioned.

Gabriella nodded, "Henry had to come in early."

Taylor rolled her eyes. No one really liked Henry Marshall as a person but he was a damn good doctor. "Do you always do everything he wants?" Taylor questioned her friend.

Gabriella went towards her locker and placed her purse inside as well as her phone. "No, I don't do everything he wants." She snapped.

Taylor was taken back by her friend's tone of voice. "Excuse me." Taylor spoke and continued to get dressed.

Gabriella sighed and turned towards Taylor. "Look Taylor…I'm sorry….I've just had a bad year and I'm taking it out on everyone…I'm sorry."

Taylor looked at her friend and sighed, "It's cool. I know you didn't mean it."

Gabriella sighed and sat down on the bench. She just wished this could be all over. She didn't know if she could take this any longer with Henry or herself. She just wanted to disappear…maybe she could. She looked at Taylor and thought of an idea.

She looked around and noticed everyone was minding their own business. "Taylor…can you help me with something?"

Taylor looked at her friend and sat down next to her. "Sure, what do you need?"

Gabriella took a deep breath. "I need a way out…" she trailed off and then pulled her long sleeve she had on under her scrubs to show Taylor the dark menacing bruises she had.

Taylor looked on in shock. "Oh my god, Gabi…" she trailed off and looked into her friend's brown orbs.

"Henry hasn't been very nice as you can see…I need a way out." She told her dark friend.

Taylor looked confused, "What do you mean a way out?"

Gabriella sighed, "He won't let me see my Nana. I haven't spoken to her in almost a year or so…I want to see her again but I can't with Henry around."

"Break up with him Gabi," Taylor spoke.

Gabriella shook her head, "I can't. It's not that easy as it sounds. He's got connections and he can get me fired from this hospital."

Taylor looked at Gabriella and sighed, "What do you need me to do?"

"I need to fake my own death," Gabriella whispered.

Taylor looked at her friend like she was insane. "Are you insane! You can't do that!"

Gabriella nodded her head, "Yes it is. There is a drug that I can take that will stop my breathing and make it look like I'm dead. It will slow my pulse and make it sound like my heart quit pumping."

"How long have you been thinking about this?" Taylor asked.

"Just now." She replied to her friend.

"What drug?" Taylor asked.

"Sodium Thiopental. It's what they use in anesthesia and also it's like a muscle relaxer."

Taylor looked at her friend like she was crazy. "Sodium thiopental can kill you Gabriella!" she whispered.

Gabriella looked at her friend with a certainty. "It can, but if you are there in the morgue to bring me back to life then it won't kill me. All you have to do it start my heart again and pump some air into my lungs."

Taylor sighed and looked away for a moment, "I can't do this alone. I'm going to need help. If I have to start your heart again, I'm going to need someone to pump the air, Gabi."

Gabriella sighed and looked around and noticed someone who could do the job. "Get Ryan to help you. Fill him in. I know he will do it. I just know it."

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><p>So what did y'all think about it? Let me know in the comments! :)<p>

-Ashley


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Hey guys! Thanks for 8 reviews on my first chapter! ILOVEYOU! Anyway, I'm updating this story today because I'm not going to have internet for a while so I wanted to let you know I haven't forgotten about this story or my other ones! Anyway this was 12 pages for this chapter! I hope to get a lot a reviews! :)

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><p><strong>Broken Paradise<strong>  
>written by missefron15<p>

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

He stared down at his iPhone and decided whether or not to call home. It'd been a long time since he'd called home to New Mexico seeing as he lived almost 1,000 miles away in Los Angeles, CA. He looked up and noticed his co-agents were just doing nothing at their desks.

"Dude, what are you staring at?" his partner in crime asked.

Troy looked up and saw his partner, Chad standing in front of him. "Uh…trying to decide if I want to call home or not."

Chad stared at his best friend while he grabbed a rolling chair and sat in front of him. "It's not going to hurt you to call home one in a while." Chad spoke.

Troy stared at his dark-skinned friend and sighed bringing up the dialer on his iPhone. "Yeah but I haven't spoken to them in a couple months."

"Just dial the damn number." Chad snapped at his friend.

Troy shook his head and decided to go ahead and dial the number. He punched in the numbers and placed it on speaker phone so Chad would know he didn't chicken out. "Hello, Bolton residence, Caroline speaking." Troy heard the voice of his 17 year old little sister.

Troy sighed and then spoke, "Hey Caroline, its Troy."

"Oh my god! Hey stranger! You know it would be nice to hear from you every single day!" his sister screeched into the phone.

Troy laughed and looked at Chad who had a grin on his face as well, "Where is your twin brother?"

Caroline sighed, "I don't know. Probably playing video games in his room."

Troy laughed again, "Put me on speaker so I can talk to everyone."

"Okie Dokie!" Caroline shouted. "MOM! DAD! CADE! COME TO THE PHONE! TROY THE NON-EXSISTANT MEMBER OF THIS FAMILY HAS CALLED!"

"Damn, your sister has some lungs," Chad commented, holding his ears.

Troy smiled, "I know, but I love her anyway."

"Troy, honey is that you!" Troy's mother, Lucille spoke.

Troy smiled, "Yeah mama, it's me."

"Oh goodness! I'm so glad you called! When is my little boy coming home to visit!"

Chad laughed and Troy rolled his eyes. "I don't know Mama; I've got a lot of cases to finish before I can even think to come home."

Lucille Bolton sighed when she heard her oldest son say that. Lucille looked to her husband Jack to say something, "Hey son," Jack spoke.

"Hey dad, how are you?" Troy spoke.

"Good just been busy with the new basketball team," Jack spoke to his son.

Troy laughed, "You getting them in shape? Cade on the team?"

"Yeah I sure am and Cade is the one helping me get them in shape." Jack laughed.

Troy laughed as well along with his father, "That's great dad. I was just calling to make sure everyone was doing good and alright," he told his family.

"Dude, we're fine, stop worrying you big FBI agent." His little brother's comment sneaked into the phone conversation. Troy laughed and looked up to see a few more people were listening in on his phone conversation.

"Hey Cade, what you been up too, little bro?" Troy asked casually.

"Nothing really. School, basketball, work and more basketball." He laughed.

Troy smiled, "That's good, following in your big bro's footsteps I see," he told his little brother.

Cade smirked, "I guess so."

Lucille hit her youngest son, "So Troy, how have you been sweetheart?"

Troy looked around, "Good, busy but good and how about you mom?"

"Oh honey, just been working on the garden in the front yard and oh that reminds me I must stop to see how Rose is doing, poor Rose." Lucille spoke not noticing that she said it in a sad tone to her oldest boy.

Troy sat up right in his chair and held the phone closer to his body, "Mom, is Mrs. Darbus okay?" he asked mentioning his old neighbor/teacher.

Lucille sighed. She didn't want to tell her oldest boy that his ex was no longer around to help her grandmother. It would just make him worry. "I mean she's fine, Troy. She's been working on her new play for the winter musical and just the normal stuff."

Troy could feel that his mother was leaving something out. "Is _she_ still living with Mrs. Darbus?"

Jack looked at his wife and saw that his two children backed away from the phone not wanting to be a part of the conversation anymore when it concerned _her._

Lucille sighed, "No, Troy. Gabriella hasn't spoken to Rose in a year or so…no one has seen her really since Henry came into the picture."

"Who is Henry?" Troy asked immediately. He noticed Chad had a pen and some paper and was looking at Troy.

"His name is Henry Marshall. He is a surgeon at the hospital Gabriella works at. When she started there, they started to date and she brought him home a few times and introduced us to him…" Lucille trailed off. Troy looked to Chad seeing if he wrote down the name Henry Marshall, which he did, and continued to talk to his mother.

"Why did you trail off mom?"

Lucille sighed, "Troy, it's not like Gabriella to stop talking to Rose. You and I both know that is her only family. She is alone without Rose. Henry…he didn't seem like an okay guy. He seemed…constricted."

Troy sighed, "Would you like me to look into this guy, Ma?"

Lucille smiled, "Yes…and one more thing…"

"Anything for you Ma," Troy spoke noticing the agents backed out of his conversation somewhat.

"Check out Gabriella. Something isn't right, honey."

Troy sighed once again and nodded, "I will, tell Dad, Cade and Caroline I love them and I'll talk to you soon."

"I will. It was good to hear from you Troy."

"You too Ma. Love you. Bye." He spoke.

"Love you too." And she hung up. Lucille looked to Jack and he gave her a pointed look. "What?"

"I don't think it's right to have Troy snooping into Gabriella's life." Jack spoke, not noticing that Caroline and Cade were hiding by the stairs.

Lucille sighed, "Jack, Gabriella was a part of our lives. She is like a daughter to me."

"I know Lucy, but she and Troy broke up. I'm not trying to be a jackasss, but she's living her own life now. We have to let her go." He spoke.

Lucille sighed, "I still think there is something wrong, Jack."

Troy hung up the phone and saw that Chad was looking at him, "What?"

Chad looked at his best friend and gave him a look, "Who is Gabriella?"

Troy sighed. When he first started FBI training him and Chad became close but he never told Chad about Gabriella. He didn't want anyone to know about her. She was his life and he was miserable when he broke up with her, but she was going to have a good life and so was he. "She's my ex-girlfriend."

"Why is she your ex and not your now girlfriend?" Chad smirked.

"I turned 21 and got accepted to train for the FBI, Chad. She was 18 and got accepted to Medical school. I wasn't going to hold her back from her dream of being a doctor. I told her we needed some space and then we never really talked again."

"Wow…how long has it been?" Chad asked.

"Seven years." Troy stated simply.

Chad made a low whistling sound, "Wow. No sex in 7 years, man."

Troy rolled his eyes, "Man, that's not important-"he got cut off.

"Dude it is important." Chad declared.

Troy smirked and shook his head, "No it's not. Anyway, check out that Henry guy for me would you?"

Chad nodded and stood up. He was about to walk away when he turned back towards his best friend, "What about this Gabriella girl? Your mom said to check into her. You want me to do that?"

Troy looked at him for a moment and shook his head, "Nah, it's my mess. I have to clean that part up."

Chad shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever you say man," he said and walked away.

Troy sat there for a while before turning back to his desk and working on a case. He would put the Gabriella case on hold and work on that later. She was his past…not present.

* * *

><p>Rose Darbus was never late for school. But for some reason her alarm didn't go off and she was rushing around like a mad woman. She saw that it was already 8:50 when she reached school. She was five minutes late. As she reached her drama class she saw her assistant had already started, thank god.<p>

"Oh thank you Ms. Evans," Rose spoke.

The young blonde woman turned around when she heard her name being called and smiled at the older woman. "It's not a problem, Mrs. Darbus." She spoke.

"Good morning class," Rose spoke loudly and sat her things down on top of her desk and turned to see her students bored out of their minds. She turned to Ms. Evans and looked at her for some back-up.

The blonde turned her attention towards the class and called it to order. "Attention!" she hollered and it got everyone's attention.

Rose laughed, "Thank you Sharpay," she spoke using Ms. Evans' first name.

"Anytime Mrs. Darbus," Sharpay spoke and went to her assistant desk right by Rose's.

"Anyway, I'm sorry for being late, my alarm didn't go off." Rose explained to her students.

One of her students raised their hands, "Mr. Bolton?" she questioned the young Bolton answering his raised hand.

"I have some news for you about my brother. My mom wanted me to let you know." He told her. Rose looked at the young man and saw that everyone was curious.

"Uh class, take about ten minutes to go over the new play we will be studying on page 117 in your books," Rose spoke and motioned for the young Bolton to come forward.

Rose sat at her desk as he came towards her, "Good morning Cade." Rose spoke using the 17 year olds first name.

"His Mrs. Darbus," Cade spoke.

"How are your mother and father? I have been so busy with the winter musical that I haven't been able to stop by." Rose told him.

"They're good. Troy called home last night to see how everyone was doing and he especially asked about you." Cade told her.

Rose smiled at the thought of Cade's older brother, Troy Bolton. "Why is he asking about me? I haven't talked to him in almost two years now. He's been so busy in Los Angeles."

Cade grabbed an extra chair and sat beside Mrs. Darbus. "Well he was talking to everyone on speaker phone and mom mentioned that she needed to stop by your house to see how you're doing and Troy asked why, and what was wrong with you."

Rose sighed knowing what Lucille, Cade and Troy's mother probably told him. "She told him about Gabriella, didn't she?"

Cade sighed, "Yes and no. Mom said that you'd been busy with school work and that you were always lonely nowadays and that's when Troy asked about Gabi. He asked where she was and mom said she didn't know."

Rose sighed, "I wish my Gabriella talk to me."

Cade looked at his teacher, "Have you tried to call her?"

Rose nodded, "Her number was changed. I don't know what I ever did to that girl. I just took care of her when her parents wouldn't."

Cade nodded, "I know. She'll call you one day."

Rose smiled at Cade's optamissiom, "Thank you for telling me about Troy. Next time he calls, tell him to call me and talk to me himself. I would love to hear from the boy that stole my granddaughter's heart."

Cade laughed, "I will." Cade stood up and went back to his seat and Rose looked over at Sharpay.

"Sharpay, how are you today?" Rose asked.

The blonde looked at the older woman with a smile, "I'm good." She spoke and looked down at her phone and texted someone. "My brother just cancelled on me. Something big came up at the hospital."

Rose looked at Sharpay, "Your brother works at the hospital?" she asked interested.

Sharpay nodded, "Yes, ma'am. He wants to be a peds surgeon."

Rose looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "A what surgeon?"

Sharpay laughed, "Ryan wants to work with the kids and be a surgeon for them. Hey isn't your granddaughter a surgeon?"

Rose sighed, "She's a resident at the hospital. She wants to be a general surgeon."

Sharpay nodded, "Maybe Ryan knows her. He's a 5th year."

"My Gabriella is a 3rd year."

"I can ask him when he comes for dinner tomorrow night since he cancelled on me tonight." Sharpay suggested.

Rose smiled, "Would you? I have spoken to my granddaughter in over a year."

Sharpay looked at the old woman with such sadness. Her greying hair but beautiful colored clothing made her an amazing woman and teacher. She just couldn't believe that her granddaughter would just stop talking to her. "Of course, I will."

"Thank you so much, Sharpay."

"Anytime, Rose."

* * *

><p>"Why did I agree to this?" the annoyed voice of the dirty blonde spoke.<p>

They were sitting at a table in the cafeteria far away from everyone where no one could hear what they were going to be talking about. "Because she wants this very much and you've been here two years longer than us." Taylor spoke.

He sighed and looked at the light golden skin of the girl that sat in front of him and had her arms crossed, "First off, what is going on that I can't tell anyone and I just have to agree?" he asked.

She looked up and her brown eyes met his teal ones. "Ryan…I need out of my relationship and this is why." She spoke rolling up her sleeves.

Ryan looked on and was shocked at the dark bruises all over her arms. "Dr. Marshall did this to you?" he asked in shock.

Gabriella looked at him and nodded. "There are a lot more where that came from. He's not a nice person and I will get fired if I end things so I need you to do this for me."

Gabriella looked to Taylor hoping she will finish telling him what she needed to be done. Taylor looked at her and nodded and then looked towards Ryan. "So Ryan…me and you are going to kill her."

Ryan's eyes widened and looked at the two women like they were crazy. "No way." He spoke through gritted teeth.

Taylor sighed, "Ryan, please. We're not really going to kill her. We're going to put Sodium Thiopental into her system and then we have to start her heart back up and then put air into her lungs. I can start her heart, since I am going into Cardio and you can do the lungs. I know you know how to do this. That is why Gabi picked you."

Ryan sighed and looked at the two girls. "I don't know you two. This can kill you, Gabriella."

Gabriella sighed, "It's my only way."

"What are you going to do when everyone thinks you're dead and we bring you back to life?" Ryan asked her point blank.

Gabriella knew what she was going to do. She'd been thinking about it ever since she told Taylor what she wanted to do to get away. She needed this to work. "I'm going to go find someone in Los Angeles."

Taylor looked at her. "You didn't tell me that part, Gabriella."

She sighed, "I know and I'm sorry. But I have someone in Los Angeles that can help me…I hope."

Ryan looked at her and shook his head. If we're doing this, we're doing it in an hour. I don't have time anywhere else. I can get the drug but ya'll need to create a scene when I enter it into your system, Gabi. We need it to look like you collapsed."

Taylor looked at Ryan. "What if we made it look like Henry killed her?"

Gabriella looked at her friend, "What do you mean?"

"You and Henry can start a fight. He can hit you really hard, but prior to the fight, Ryan will put the drug in your system. It takes a couple minutes for it to hit your whole system. I think it will work." Taylor spoke.

Gabriella nodded. It sounded like a really good plan. "I can make him angry…"

Ryan sighed, "I hope this freaking plan works because you only have minutes before you drop dead."

Gabriella nodded, "It'll work."

Taylor looked at Ryan, "We have an hour. Let's get to work."

* * *

><p>She breathed in and out while she waited for Henry to meet her in the resident locker room. He said he'd be here in a few minutes; he'd just gotten out of a heart transplant surgery. She looked over to her right and saw that Ryan was filling the syringe with the drug and getting it ready.<p>

She heard her phone go off and saw that it was Henry.

Be there in a minute.

"Ryan, hurry! Henry will be here any minute." She shouted at him.

Ryan sighed and saw Taylor standing by the locker room door looking for him. He walked over towards the fragile girl and pulled her sleeve up to find a vein. He cringed at all the dark bruises. "He's coming," Taylor voice spoke. Ryan took this chance. He stuck the needle in her arm and pushed the drug inside of her. He pulled the needle out and looked at her.

"You have at least three minutes. We'll save you. Make it big, girl." He told her. Him and Taylor grabbed all their stuff and rushed to the showers behind the lockers so that Henry wouldn't spot them in the same room as them.

Gabriella looked at the clock and twenty second had gone by. She heard the door open and there came in Henry. "What is so important, Gabriella?"

"I texted Nana this morning." She blurted out.

Henry's green eyes flared as he strode towards her and grabbed her upper arms. "You did what!" he yelled at her.

"I texted my Nana this morning. I want to talk to her, Henry. You are not my family anymore. She is." She yelled in his face. She could feel her muscles contracting and her legs wanting to give out. Her head felt light and she just wanted to sleep.

Henry grew furious. How dare she do this to him! "That's it, bitch." He threw her on the ground and kicked the shit out of her until she couldn't breathe. "You are a filthy bitch! I knew I should have taken that job offer in Washington and dragged you with me! I knew it! YOU BITCH!" he then reached down and punched the hell out of her face.

By now she was giving out. She felt like she couldn't breathe. She felt like she wanted to die. She was feeling at ease…

When he kicked her one last time…she passed out cold. "You bitch!" he screamed. He was breathing heavy and his face was red as can be from the hatred he had for this woman. He looked down and noticed she wasn't making any sounds. "Gabriella get the fuck up." He yelled.

She didn't move.

"Gabriella!" he screamed. He kicked her again and her body turned upright. He bent down to feel her pulse and there wasn't one. "Oh shit." He cursed.

She was dead. He'd killed her. He could lose his license for this. He had to come up with a plan. He looked up at the locker room door and knew that if he bolted, he could just pretend that he was never here. That's it. He grabbed his things and bolted out of the room.

Taylor and Ryan heard the locker room door open and close. The silence was unbearable. They rounded the corner and saw her body.

"Oh my god, he beat her!" Taylor shouted.

Ryan cursed under his breath. "It's been three minutes, Taylor. We only have one minute to get her heart started."

Taylor looked at Ryan. "Ryan, we need to call the ER doctors in here."

Ryan shook his head, "We don't have time, Taylor." He snapped.

Taylor shook her head at him. "No, we do." Taylor went to the phone that hung on the wall and dialed the number to the ER desk.

"Hello, this is Daisy," a soft voice spoke.

"Daisy! This is Dr. McKessie. I have a 25 year old female, badly beaten and not breathing in the resident locker room of the 4th floor." Ryan shook his head and started to begin CPR on Gabriella.

"Okay Dr. McKessie, I will send someone up," she spoke in a hurried tone now.

"Hurry. The girl is Dr. Montez." Taylor spoke hanging up the phone.

"Bad move, McKessie." Ryan snapped as he continued CPR.

"Ryan, this plan went all wrong. I didn't think he would badly beat her."

"Yeah well this whole plan was insane in the beginning." He snapped.

After a few minutes and no response from Gabriella, Ryan gave up. He beat her bad and it might have given her heart out along with the medicine he'd given her. "Taylor I really think she's dead."

Taylor's brown eyes widened. "No…this plan was supposed to work, Ryan!"

Ryan's eyes grew furious. "Well it fucking didn't! It didn't work Taylor! I didn't want to do this!"

"Then you shouldn't have agreed, Ryan!" she screamed back at him.

"Ya'll gave me no choice in the matter!" he screamed back at her.

"Woah! What is with the screaming!" a voice spoke.

Taylor and Ryan saw some doctors rush towards Gabriella's side and pulled out some equipment to try and start her heart back up. "What happened here?" One of the doctors asked.

"We came in here and found her like this," Taylor rushed out.

The doctor, Dr. Hayes, looked at the residents and nodded. "Page Dr. Marshall up here. Her heart isn't beating."

And so Dr. Marshall was paged. He never showed up.

After twenty minutes of trying to start her heart without the best cardio surgeon's help, Gabriella Hope Montez was pronounced dead at 2:49 P.M., December 12th, 2010. Two days before her 26th birthday.

Taylor McKessie watched as the corner came up from the morgue to pack her body into a black bag. Tears poured form her eyes. This wasn't supposed to happen this way. She was supposed to wake up when she and Ryan helped her.

Ryan looked at Taylor and wrapped in arm around her. "I'm sorry Taylor. But let me tell you this. When they do an autopsy, they're going to find that drug in her system. They are going to think she committed suicide, or someone killed her after they beat her to death."

Taylor looked at Ryan, "We killed her, Ryan."

Ryan shook her head, "No we didn't. We set her free."

* * *

><p>Rose Darbus looked out the window of East High School as she watched her class in groups finish their drama project. "Mrs. Darbus?" she heard Sharpay's voice.<p>

Rose turned to see Sharpay holding her phone out. "Your phone beeped." Rose took her phone from Sharpay and noticed it was an unfamiliar number. She opened the text message she received and she gasped at what she saw.

_I'm sorry, Nana. I love you._

"Mrs. Darbus!" Sharpay exclaimed.

Rose looked up with tears pouring out of her hazel eyes, "Sharpay, it's my granddaughter, Gabriella. She texted me."

Sharpay smiled, "Text her back!"

Rose settled down before texting her back.

_Gabriella? Honey? Is that you my darling?_

Rose waiting ten minutes and didn't hear anything back from her. "Maybe she's busy." She stated and saw that Sharpay was nodding too.

"Maybe," Sharpay spoke.

A minute later, Rose's phone rang. It was Gabriella's number. "She's calling me." Rose commented.

"Answer it, Mrs. Darbus. It's time to talk to her again." Sharpay spoke.

Rose smiled and touched answer on her phone. "Hello? Gabriella, is that you?"

"Uh…Is this Gabriella's Nana?" an unfamiliar voice spoke.

Rose looked confused. "Yes this is she, who may I ask is this?"

A sigh was heard on the other line, "My name is Taylor McKessie. I worked with your daughter…Uh, Miss Nana…"

"Worked? My name is Rose."

"I'm sorry Rose…Gabriella was pronounced dead at 2:49 P.M. today."

Rose's heart dropped to her stomach. She glanced at the clock. It was 3:30 P.M. Her baby was dead. Tears poured from her face. "She's dead?"

Sharpay looked shocked at what Mrs. Darbus said. She grabbed her phone and texted her brother.

_RYAN! DID YOU WORK WITH GABRIELLA MONTEZ!_

Rose looked on with tears streaming down, "Yes, she died. Me and a fellow worker found her dead in the resident locker room badly beaten. They tried for twenty minutes to start her heart but nothing worked. I'm so sorry for your loss." Taylor spoke.

Sharpay looked down and saw that her brother texted her back.

_I found her dead._

Sharpay's heart dropped into _her_ stomach.

Rose dropped her phone and steadied herself on the window sill. "Sharpay finish my class. I will be stepping out. I have a few phone calls to make." And Rose Darbus left the class room leaving everyone confused to what was going on.

Sharpay cleared her throat. "Mrs. Darbus will not be returning for the rest of the day. She just found out her granddaughter died today."

Little did Sharpay know, Caroline Bolton was sitting right there in the middle of the classroom and felt like dying. She stood from her seat and left the classroom after hearing everyone calling for her to come back and ran out into the hall to find Mrs. Darbus. She found her sitting on the steps in the corridor.

"Rose?" she spoke softly.

Rose lifted her head and saw Caroline. "What do I do now?" she cried out.

Caroline came and wrapped her arms around Rose and held her. "We cry, Rose. We cry."


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: OMGGGG. I love that you guys love this story! :) By the wayyy! I got a brand new Twilight story in the works too! haha, but I'll post that one when I'm through with this story and Blame It On The Rain. My internet is going off tomorrow, so I had this in my computer and since I won't have internet for a while, I thought I'd go ahead and upload this chapter since It's already written out. Please keep up the reviews! I love you guys! :) And I'm thinking about changing my PenName, should I? I mean missefron15 was created when I was like 14. I'm 19 now. haha. :)

* * *

><p><strong>Broken Paradise<strong>  
>written by missefron15<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

It was like she couldn't move. The feeling of numbness was throughout her whole entire body. Had she done it? Had the plan worked? She didn't know and she couldn't tell as well. She heard the voices above her. She needed to get out of here. If only she could move…

"It's sad to see a doctor die this way," she heard.

"This death is really strange though," she heard another voice.

"What do you mean? She was beaten to death." The first voice spoke again.

"I did a tox screen on her. She had Sodium Thiopental in her system." The second one spoke.

"She did? Was she trying to kill herself?"

"I think so. Honestly I think we either have a suicide or someone murdered her and put that in her system."

The first one sighed, "Let's go write this report up."

It was silent again. She didn't hear the voices anymore. She tried to get out but felt like she couldn't move. She was alive and not dead. She needed to move her fingers. She needed to move them. She needed to find Troy.

She figured all her strength and moved her fingers. After twenty minutes of trying, she could feel every bone in her body. She opened her eyes and saw that it was pitch black inside. She raised her hand slowly and reached for the outline of the zipper and pulled it down. She saw the dusty blue of the ceiling of the morgue and could feel the dead in the air.

She sat up and saw that no one was in here and that she was alone. She slowly moved her legs out of the bag and onto the floor. She felt weird. A good and bad kind of weird. A good because…she was free and a bad because of the pain she felt. She couldn't remember what happened but she could feel the pain.

She looked around once more before getting off the table that the bag was sitting on. She looked down to see she was still in her scrubs but they were ripped open from where she guessed they did chest compressions on her. She needed new clothes. She looked around and saw a bunch of sheets lying on a table nearby. She picked them up and stuffed the corner bag with the sheets to make it look like there was a body in there and zipped it back up the way it was and then went into the morgue office and saw a hoodie laying down. She grabbed it and pulled it over her head.

She opened the door that led into the hallway and noticed that no one was there so she took her chance and ran. This was her moment and she was free. She was dead and now she needed to go find her muse to make her alive again, even if it meant that she would be going to Los Angeles.

* * *

><p>Rose felt like it was the end of the world. She thanked Caroline very much for being with her, but right now she just wanted to go home and sit down. And that's what she was doing now. Caroline had called her mother and told her what was going on and Lucille rushed to see how Rose was doing and took her home.<p>

Jack would have taken her home but was not at school today for he had a meeting at West High School today.

Lucille came out of the kitchen with two cups of tea and sat one right in front of Rose. "Rose, are you okay?" Lucille felt like she wanted to cry now. A young woman who she'd come to know and love was dead and Rose was like a mother to her and now her family was dead.

Rose glanced at the woman next to her and placed a hand over hers. "Lucy, I'm going to be okay. People come and go. That is how life goes. I just have to believe that Gabriella is in heaven with my Nicholas." Rose told her.

Lucille felt tears slip from her blue eyes. "I can't imagine what you're going through, Rose. Gabriella was just like a daughter to Jack and I. She was a sister to Cade and Caroline. And Troy…I don't even know how he is going to react."

Rose looked at Lucille with such disdain. "I know honey. It's going to get better, I promise. I have a few phone calls to make and then I need to go identify Gabriella's body." Rose spoke and grabbed her phone.

She scrolled through her contacts and stopped when she saw one of the names she needed to call.

Joanne Darbus-Tyler.

She pressed dial and waited for her daughter to pick up. "Hello?" the soft voice of her daughter spoke.

Rose gave a low breath before she spoke, "Jo, it's me, Mama."

"Mama?" Joanne asked.

"Yeah, Jo, it's me." Rose said.

Joanne Darbus, now Joanne Tyler, couldn't believe that her mother was calling her. It'd been thirteen years since she last spoke to her. She looked around and noticed it was a little too loud to talk and moved to her bedroom. "Mama, what's wrong? You never call me."

"Jo, its Gabriella…she's dead." Rose spoke as calmly as she could.

Joanne stopped breathing. Her daughter was dead? "Honey?" she heard her husband knocking on the bedroom door. The door opened and in walked her husband, the one she married right after she divorced her first one.

"Jo, what's wrong?" her husband, Lewis spoke.

Jo looked to Lewis and tears started coming out of her eyes. She felt so guilty. She never tried to call Gabriella or her mother these past thirteen years and now she hears that her daughter is dead? This can't be happening.

"Mama, you still there?" she spoke after a few minutes.

"Yes, dear." Rose spoke, letting Jo catch her breath.

"What happened?"

Rose sighed, "I don't really know what happened. Just that she was badly beaten and went into cardiac arrest." Rose told her. After talking to Taylor, she called the corner and he spoke to her more about what happened to her granddaughter.

Jo sat down on the bed and Lewis looked at her. "Honey, what's wrong?"

Jo ignored Lewis, "Mama…I'm coming home….I think it's time I come home."

Rose sighed. She didn't want Jo to feel this way. "Jo you don't need to come home. You haven't spoken to her in thirteen years or me. Why bother now? Yes, she's dead. Don't come home because you feel like you have to. Come home because you want to." Rose spoke and hung the phone up.

Jo sat there for a minute before closing her phone. She didn't realize tears were streaming down her face until Lewis wiped them away. "Honey, please talk to me. Why did your mother call?"

Jo stared into her husband's grey eyes, "Gabriella died today."

Lewis' eyes went wide and he pulled his wife into his arms. "I'm so sorry honey."

Jo cried into her husband's shoulder and shook her head. "My mother was all put together. I don't know how she does it. When something bad happens, she is the one to make everything and everyone feel better."

Lewis sighed, "Honey let's take you home. You need to be there for your mother."

Jo nodded and sighed. "Get the boys ready. I'll book the flight."

* * *

><p>Rose sighed and looked to Lucille. "I'm pretty sure my daughter is coming home."<p>

Lucille held her hand, "That's good, Rose. You don't need to be alone."

"I need to call Keith. I'm pretty sure he's going to be distraught. He was the only one out of the both of them that actually stayed in touch with Gabriella and me. He sent money to Gabriella every year for her birthday. Jo just moved on with her life and had more kids."

Lucille nodded, "Call him."

She dialed Keith Montez' number and waited for him to answer. "Hello!" the voice of Keith's life partner, Drew answered.

Rose smiled, "Drew, it's me, Rose Darbus."

"Rosie! So nice of you to call! We haven't heard from you in a while! How are things? How is Gabriella?" Drew asked excited.

Keith Montez heard Drew answer his phone from the next room but was surprised when Drew said it was Rose. Keith walked into the next room, drying his hands that were wet. "Drew, let me talk to Rose." He spoke asking for the phone.

Rose heard Keith's voice, "Drew put it on speakerphone please." Drew did exactly what Rose said.

"Rose, is that you, honey?" Keith asked.

"Yes, Keith, it's me." He heard her say.

Keith smiled, "How are you doing, Rosie?"

Rose sighed; "I'm okay…" she trailed off.

Keith knew something was wrong, "What's wrong, Rose?"

"Keith, Gabriella's dead. She died today from being badly beaten. She went into cardiac arrest and the doctor's couldn't save her."

Keith felt like he was going to hurl. His little girl was dead. "Rose please tell me you're kidding." He spoke, sitting down next to his partner.

"I'm afraid not, Keith. I've called Jo. She's coming home…will you?"

Drew looked at Keith and nodded at him. "Yes we'll be there Rose. We'll catch the next flight out." Drew answered for Keith.

Rose nodded, "Thank you Drew. I'll see you soon."

"Bye Rosie."

The line went dead and Drew began rubbing his partner's back. "Keith…talk to me."

Keith looked at him, "She can't be dead…she's my little girl." He burst into tears.

Drew held him as he cried and called the airlines to get a flight out to New Mexico right away.

* * *

><p>"Are they coming?" Lucille asked as Rose ended the call.<p>

Rose nodded, "Yes. Keith didn't take it well. Drew finished the conversation."

Lucille looked at Rose. "There is one more person to call, Rose…and I think he will like to hear it from you rather than me."

Rose nodded and dialed the number that Lucille had given him and waited for him to answer.

* * *

><p>He sat there staring at the finished case he had just solved and signed off of. It was good to put the bad guys away even if they were the unexpected. Being in the FBI was everything to him. It's all he wanted to do, that and basketball when he was in high school.<p>

He looked at a picture that was sitting on his desk of his family; He was standing in the very middle with his mom and dad on either side of him and the twins in front. That was when he left for training seven years ago.

He looked at his keys that he had lying down on his desk and took them to open up one of his drawers. He looked under a few files and found what he was looking for. The picture. The picture that made him miss her more and more each and every single day of his life.

They were standing in front of the mutual tree that was right in front of both their houses. He had his arms wrapped around her and she had his wrapped around him. They were smiling and laughing. She'd just graduated high school. She was in her cap and gown and he was dressed up to the nine.

He didn't realize that three months later he would be leaving her for good.

He was so wrapped up in the picture he didn't even hear his partner come up behind him. "Going back down memory lane?"

Troy threw the picture back down into the drawer and locked it. He turned around and stared at Chad like he hadn't been caught. "Nope, so what did you find on that Henry guy?" he asked ignoring the question completely.

Chad rolled his eyes and pulled a chair up. "Nothing really. He's 36 years old, been a Cardio Surgeon for 10 almost 11 years. He's had two ex-wives though but get this the first one, went missing a week after she found out about the second wife." Chad told him.

Troy raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean the second one?"

Chad nodded, "Oh, he was still married to the first one but was cheating on her with the second wife but he wasn't married to the second one yet."

Troy nodded understanding what he was talking about now, "What happened to the second wife?"

"It doesn't really say. Just that they divorced and she moved out of state. I couldn't really find any information on her. It's like she disappeared too."

"Check the second wife out some more, what was her name?" Troy asked.

Chad looked through the file he'd made up on Henry Marshall and found the second wife's name, "Martha Cox." He said looking up.

Troy nodded, "What about the first one?"

"Lynn Matthews." Chad said.

Troy looked at Chad, "Look into both wives instead. He's 36? Really?" he scoffed looking at Chad in disgust.

Chad laughed, "Your girl has a thing for older men!"

Troy flipped his partner the bird when he heard his cell ringing. He looked at the caller and saw it was a number he didn't recognize. "Hello?" he spoke, Chad still laughing on his end.

"Troy…it's Rose Darbus."

Troy sat up straight in his chair. "Mrs. Darbus!" Troy spoke.

A sniffle was heard on her end and a cough as well. "Troy…something's happened."

Troy didn't like the way her voice sounded. "Mrs. Darbus, what's going on?"

"Oh, Troy…Gabriella is dead."

He dropped the phone. Chad stopped laughing. He sat there like his world had ended. He had just talked to his mother the night before and she had asked him to do one thing and he didn't check on her. He could have had someone check on her in New Mexico but he didn't do it. He treated it like any other case.

"Dude, are you okay?" Chad asked waving a hand in front of his face.

Troy snapped out of it and picked his phone back up, "Mrs. Darbus are you still there?"

"Yes, Troy. I'm here."

"How'd she die?" he asked.

"She was beaten badly and went into cardiac arrest, honey."

He felt the stray tears falling onto his cheeks as he heard the news. "Who beat her?" he asked angered.

Rose sighed, "I don't know, honey. I don't know all the details. I need to go to the hospital and make sure it's Gabriella but her friend Taylor called and told me it was her. They don't know who did it, but they are investigating the hospital staff."

Troy nodded. "I'll book a flight home as soon as I can. It might take me a day or two, but I promise you, I'll be there, Mrs. Darbus."

Rose smiled when he called her that. He'll never learn to call her by her first name. "Okay, Troy. Jo and Keith are coming home as well."

Troy felt the anger bubble in the bottom of his stomach. "Why? I know Keith kept in touch, but Jo never called or wrote you or Gabriella. She doesn't deserve to be there."

"Troy, Gabriella is her daughter."

Troy shook his head, "I'll be as soon as I can, Mrs. Darbus." And he hung up.

Chad looked at Troy and waited for him to speak. "Dude?"

Troy looked up with red eyes. "Check into that fucking Marshall guy again. Gabriella is dead."

* * *

><p>So my last update until I can get new internet! Please be patient! :)<br>If you would like to contact me besides here on FF, I have an email and I check it everyday on my phone. xashamaley g m a i l . c o m.  
>Just take the spaces out and e-mail for info. I have my phone with me all the time! :)<p>

- Ash


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: I got my internet yesterday! So here is a new chapter of Broken Paradise. I am just loving all the feedback from the story and I hope you all like this story more and more! :)

* * *

><p><strong>Broken Paradise<strong>  
>written by missefron15<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

It was loud. Way to loud for his liking. Keith rolled his eyes at some guy talking way too loud on the phone and being a jackass, you could say. Drew stiffed a laugh and looked at his man. Keith's eyes were filled with dread and sadness but he covered it well for others.

Keith looked over at Drew and saw that his hazel eyes were staring right at him. He sighed, "I'm fine, honey. I swear." He sweat talked.

Drew shook his head and gave him a soft smile, "It'll get better, Keith."

Keith gave a tight smile and turned his attention towards the baggage claim where Drew and he stood waiting for their luggage. "Keith?" Keith turned around and saw the woman he hadn't seen in almost 13 years.

He sighed, "Hello Joanne," he spoke looking into his ex-wife's eyes. He looked her up and down and noticed she'd gained a little bit of weight but looked good none the less. Her figure was curvier and she looked a little happier than she did with him. He looked beyond Joanne and noticed two little black haired boys with striking green eyes and a tall man that looked exactly like them.

"Is that your new husband?" Keith asked.

Joanne turned her eyes from Keith to Lewis and gave a soft smile. She turned back to Keith, "Yeah, that's Lewis. And our two boys Cruz and Finn." She told him with a small smile.

Keith smiled and waved to her new family which he received a wave back from all three of them and turned his attention towards Drew. "Jo, this is my husband, Drew." He said proudly.

Joanne's eyes grew wide when she looked at the gorgeous man candy next to him. He was 6'0, brunette and beautiful hazel eyes. His muscles bulged from his shoulders and he looked like a male supermodel. "I thought gay marriage wasn't legal?.." Joanne trailed off.

Drew rolled his eyes. "It is in Washington. That's where we've been living for the past ten years." He told his husband's ex-wife.

Joanne laughed and try to play off her dumbness, "Oops, my bad." She spoke and shuffled her feet.

Keith opened his arms, "Come here, Jo."

Jo didn't take no for an answer and went straight into his strong arms and broke out into tears. "Its okay, Jo, it's going to be okay," he whispered and kissed her head.

Jo cried into his shoulder, "It's not okay, Keith. You had a relationship with her, I didn't. I didn't know how to be a mother to her! My mom always mothered her and now she's gone. My baby is gone, Keith." She cried.

Keith sighed, "Jo, it will be alright. Just know that Gabriella is in a better place now, okay?" he asked, pulling his ex-wife back and looking into her eyes.

Jo sighed and nodded, wiping her tears away. "You want to catch a taxi van over to my mom's together?" she asked.

Keith looked to Drew and shook his head, "We're going to get a rental car. I think you should too." He told her and she nodded.

"Yeah that sounds like a more reasonable idea." She spoke and motioned for Lewis and her son's to come over and meet Keith properly.

Lewis Tyler sighed and looked at his two boys, "Come on boys, let's go meet mommy's friends," he told his songs.

Jo smiled when her two boys came to stand next to her along with Lewis. "Cruz, Finn this is Keith and Drew. Keith is your big sister's daddy." She told her two seven year olds.

The two seven year olds were confused. "Big sister?" Cruz asked his bright green eyes looking between his mother and this man named Keith.

Keith shuffled his feet from side to side and looked at Joanne. "You didn't tell them they had a sister?" he asked quietly.

She sighed. "I did, but they were about four when I told them. They didn't really understand what I was talking about, Keith." She turned to her two boys and knelt beside them. "Cruz, Finn, you had a big sister named Gabriella. You would've really liked her, boys." She commented softly.

"Do we get to meet her?" Finn asked, his brown eyes looking into his mother's matching ones.

Joanne sighed, "No baby, you don't. Gabriella died yesterday. She's in heaven with your grandpa."

Cruz looked confused, "Papa is dead!" he exclaimed.

Lewis looked at his wife with wide eyes, "No! Cruz not Papa. Mommy's daddy is in heaven. He was your grandpa too." Cruz nodded looking relieved.

Keith sighed from what he witnessed. Jo never told her new family anything really about her past life with him or her mother. That disappointed him but he couldn't do anything about it because it was not his life but her own. This was her bed and now she must lay in it.

"Uh, we're going to head on over to your mom's house. My parents are going to meet us over there." Keith spoke to his ex-wife.

Jo turned towards Keith, "Did you tell them?"

Keith nodded, "Yeah, besides me and Drew, my parents kept in touch too but not too much because they didn't want to interfere with Gabriella's life and what not."

Jo nodded, "Understandable." She whispered. "Alright, we'll see you there, then." She gave each Keith and Drew a hug each and watched as they left baggage claim to the car rentals and then out the doors.

"Babe, we need to head over to your mom's house now," Lewis spoke up after a couple of minutes of silence.

Jo nodded. "Okay."

* * *

><p>Her eyes glazed as she looked out the plane window. As soon as she got out of the hospital she went home, packed a bag, grabbed some things and went to the airport. She didn't even care if people knew she wasn't dead or alive, she just needed out of New Mexico ASAP. She didn't want to drive to LA, knowing that it would take forever to get there, so she knew a plane ride would be easier.<p>

She couldn't believe she'd pulled off the biggest thing that is hard to ever do in a lifetime. She faked her own death to get out of an abusive relationship she couldn't get out of. She was pronounced dead and she was no longer a doctor. What if she could never work as a doctor again? She needed Troy ASAP.

She knew the one person this was going to hurt the most was her Nana. Before her parents split when she was twelve years old, her Nana lived right next to East high school and she would frequently stay with her when her parents were fighting.

Her Nana was her rock and now she thought she was dead. Gabriella had been on the plane for about two hours now and she heard the flight attendant say that the plane would land in about forty minutes. She had to make it to LA as soon as possible. Troy always knew what to do. She just hoped he would forgive her for what she had done. He always had before. He always protected her when something was going wrong in her life.

_Ten years ago…_

_Gabriella sighed and looked up at the big school in front of her. East High School was definitely imitating on the outside but she knew on the inside it would be even worse. She took a deep breath and sighed. "What are you doing standing outside of the school and not inside like everyone else is going?" a familiar voice spoke._

_She smiled slightly and turned around and jumped into his arms. "I'm scared, Troy." She whispered._

_Troy's blue eyes looked down into her chocolate orbs and he pushed her hair back away from her face. "There is no need to be scared. I promise you, babe." He spoke to his girlfriend of a year. Even though there was a three year difference in their age, Rose was okay with the relationship and so were his parents as long as he didn't hurt her._

"_I'm just nervous and anxious and I don't know…" she whispered._

_He laughed and kissed her forehead. "Stop worrying, kid. I love you, that's all that matters. Just think of me or your Nana if you're afraid. It will make it all better, promise." He whispered and they stared into each other's eyes._

_She smiled and leaned up on her tippy toes and gave him a kiss. "I love you too, goofball." She spoke softly._

"_You ready to head inside now? I heard your homeroom teacher was Mrs. Darbus this year…I gotta warn you, I've known her for a while, she can be a little over dramatic…" he trailed off trying to make her laugh._

_She laughed and smiled at him. "You goofball, my Nana is amazing!" she spoke and pushed away from him now feeling a lot better about her freshman year._

She didn't realize that she'd been thinking about that memory for the rest of plane ride because when she looked up people were getting off the plane. She sighed and raced to get off the plane and get into a taxi cab. She knew where he lived because his mother had given her his address right before she'd quit talking to her Nana.

After getting a taxi cab, it took thirty minutes until she found his apartment complex. She then got out of the taxi and then walked to his apartment building. She looked for his name and found apartment 9C. She saw that the door was locked. She then thought of an idea. She hit the button to 7C and waited for someone to answer.

"Hello?" a British female voice spoke.

Gabriella took a breath, "Hi, I forgot my key and can't get in."

"And what do you expect me to do? Let you in? I don't know you." The British female voice spoke.

Gabriella looked at the name and saw her name was Tiara Gold. "Please, Ms. Gold. I'm trying to surprise my boyfriend before he gets home. He gave me a key but I forgot it at home. Now I just drove in from seeing my grandmother. Please help me out here. I haven't seen him in two weeks." She pleaded hoping that her acting was working.

Tiara sighed and Gabriella heard the buzzing. "Thank you so much!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah." Tiara spoke as Gabriella opened the door and went inside.

Now all she had to do was wait for him to get home. Oh they joy.

* * *

><p>Rose sighed as she looked out her kitchen window and watched as the leaves from the trees fell off and onto the ground. She remembered when Gabriella used to play in the leaves right before she was forced to clean them up.<p>

She heard Lucille's footsteps before her voice. "Hello, Lucy," she spoke softly.

Lucille Bolton sighed and placed a cup of tea that was in the living room into the kitchen sink. She looked at the older woman and placed a hand on her frail shoulder. "How are you?" she asked quietly.

Rose sighed. It'd been a few hours since she was supposed to go to the morgue to identify Gabriella's body. She called and said she'd be there but she was waiting for her granddaughters parents to get into town. She looked at her watch and saw that it was about eight pm. They would be here any minute.

"I'm okay, just a little nervous to see my daughter and Keith. I haven't seen Jo in a long time but Keith usually comes to visit every other year for Christmas." Rose told Lucille.

Lucille gave a small smile, "It'll be okay, Rosie." She told her.

Rose smiled, "How is Cade and Caroline dealing with this? And Jack too?"

Lucille shook her head, "Caroline is a mess. She's upset because she thought Gabriella as an older sister and Cade has been at the basketball court in our backyard playing non-stop. That's what Troy used to do when he was upset."

Rose sighed, "It'll get better."

"I should be comforting you, not the other way around. Didn't we just go through this earlier?" Lucille laughed.

Rose shook her head, "It's all good, dear."

The doorbell went off and Rose looked at Lucille. "They're here." Lucille told Rose to stay put and that she would get the door for her. Lucille walked to the foyer and opened the front door and saw Gabriella's father standing there with his partner, Drew behind him. "Hey Keith," she whispered.

Keith smiled to see his daughter's ex-boyfriend's mother, Lucille. "Lucy, how are you?" he spoke and pulled her into a hug.

"Oh you know, the same ole same…except for what happened today." She whispered into his shoulder.

Keith gave her a tight squeeze and then pulled away. "I know, honey. Where's Jack?" he asked as he and Drew stepped into his old house.

"He's on his way home from a meeting over on the west side of town at West High School. It ran late." She told him.

"Does he know about Gabriella yet?" Drew asked, speaking up for the first time.

Lucille sighed, "No. I didn't want to tell him while he was in the meeting. It was an important meeting."

Drew looked at the woman, "How is Rosie?"

"Honestly?" she asked and the two men nodded, "She's okay on the outside but on the inside…I think she's broken."

Keith sighed. This is not what he wanted to hear. He loved Rose Darbus like she was his own mother. He hated to see her sad. When her husband died, it nearly killed her and now that Gabriella was gone, she was all alone.

"Keith, honey is that you?" Keith heard her voice. He smiled and walked towards the kitchen where she was standing by the kitchen sink.

He looked her up and down and saw that she was wearing a long dress with a big scarf wrapped around her neck. Her greying hair was pulled back and her glasses were on the bridge of her nose. "Hey Rosie." He whispered and walked up to her and wrapped her into a hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you earlier." He whispered again.

She smiled into his shoulder, "You're here now that's all that matters. Your parents are on the way, they called earlier to let me know you told them."

Keith nodded, "How are you holding up?"

She sighed, "If I get asked that one more time…" she trailed off and made Keith laugh. He raised his hands in the air backing up a little.

"Alright, alright." He smiled and saw that Lucille and Drew were behind him now. "You remember Drew, right?" he asked. Rose smiled and nodded.

"Of course I do, you big dork. Drew, darling how are you?" she asked as she engulfed him into a hug. Drew hugged the woman back and smiled. "I'm good, Rose."

"That's good," she whispered and pulled back from the hug. The doorbell went off and Keith sighed.

"That has to be Jo. We ran into her at the airport." Keith spoke and Rose nodded.

"You want me to get the door again?" Lucille asked.

Rose shook her head, "No. I need to talk to Jo alone." Rose walked through the house and into the foyer to open the front door. When she answered the door she saw her daughter standing with two little boys and a tall man. This must be her new family, Rose thought.

"Hey mama," Joanne whispered.

Rose stepped aside and let them in and closed the door. "Hey Jo." She spoke and looked at the other three men. "And who are these gorgeous little men?" she asked.

Jo smiled, "Mama, these are my two boys Cruz and Finn. And this is my husband Lewis." She spoke to her mother.

Rose smiled at the boys, "Hello darlings, would you two like something to eat?" both boys nodded shyly and Rose smiled. "Lucy, could you take the boys and Lewis into the kitchen and fix them something to eat?" she called out.

Joanne looked to where she saw Lucille Bolton step through the kitchen doorway. Jo sighed. She'd always been jealous of Lucille, ever since high school. Lucille had the perfect husband, perfect kids and perfect life. She always wished her life was like that. Even her own mother loved Lucille. "Hi Joanne," Lucille spoke coming towards them.

Jo nodded her head. "Cruz, Finn go with Lucille. She'll fix you something to eat." She nudged her kids to Lucille. Jo turned towards Lewis. "Go get something to eat; I'll be in there in a minute. I got to talk to my mom." She told him and he nodded, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips.

Once Rose and Joanne were alone, Rose took them towards the living room and together they sat down. "You never told me you had two boys," Rose trailed off.

Joanne looked at her aging mother and sighed, "I'm sorry mama…I just moved on with my life. I wasn't going to dwell on the past." She told her.

Rose grew angry. "Dwell on the past? Your daughter was your past? She was your present the whole time and you took advantage of her and me! I raised that girl when you could raise her. At least Keith kept contact!"

Joanne took a deep breath. "Mama, I just couldn't deal with Gabriella or you and Keith too. Ya'll were always happy go lucky and when I found out Keith liked men and that I was stuck in a loveless marriage, I wanted out. I needed a fresh start even if that meant losing my daughter in the process. I knew Gabriella would always have someone in her life and I knew that was you. You helped me in so many way and I thank you every single day, Mama." Joanne cried.

Rose sighed and looked at her daughter. "You could've kept in contact. All she wanted was a family to love her." Rose spoke and got off the couch and walked towards the kitchen. She needed to get out of that room. Her daughter had changed. She sighed and got her phone and called the morgue to talk to the doctor about when to come see her granddaughter's body and identify her.

"Albuquerque Fields Memorial Hospital, this is Doctor Wyles in the morgue, how can I help you?" a male voice spoke.

"Hi yes, I spoke to you earlier about my granddaughter Gabriella Montez," Rose spoke.

Doctor Wyles sighed, "Yes, hello Mrs. Darbus. Let me go check with the main mortician who checked Doctor Montez over," he spoke and placed her on hold.

Five minutes later a panicked Doctor Wyles got on the phone, "Mrs. Darbus…uhh….I'm sorry to say this but your granddaughter's body is missing."

Rose shot up, "What the hell do you mean her body is missing?"

Doctor Wyles gulped. "It's gone. We opened up the body bag and there were sheets in the bag and not her body."

Rose looked around the room and noticed Keith was staring at her wide-eyed. "You better find her damn body. I'm calling the police and the FBI."

* * *

><p>He was tired. Emotionally and physically tired. His whole body ached and all he wanted to do was go home and lay in his bed.<p>

It'd been almost nine hours since Rose Darbus had called him with the news. It was now almost eleven pm and he was heading home to his apartment. Word had gotten to the chief that his ex-had died tragically and he was forced to go home from work.

He usually worked all-nighters to try and get his entire case load done but he was sent home two hours ago. He then left and went walking down the beach to clear his head.

She was dead. He couldn't fucking believe the girl he'd love all his life was dead. When he'd asked Chad to check more into Marshall, nothing came up; but he was going to continue looking because he had a funny feeling that Marshall was behind Ella's death.

Ella.

He hadn't used that name in a long time and it was popping up now.

Right after he heard the news, he turned his phone off and didn't want to talk to anyone. He didn't want to talk his family or Rose Darbus. He loved Rose Darbus even though she was a scary woman at times but he loved her like a grandmother.

He sighed as he pulled up to his apartment and turned his car off. He got out and then started walking inside his apartment building turning his phone on as we walked. He got into the elevator and pressed 3 and rode all the way up while his iPhone booted up. When the doors opened he saw he had twenty missed calls. Most of them were from his family and Rose.

He called his voicemail and the first thing that was said was this. "Troy, honey it's me Rose. I called the morgue and Gabriella's body is missing. Please call me back ASAP." Troy was walking to his apartment door when he saw a small figure and almost dropped his phone when he heard Gabriella's body was missing.

Troy reached for his gun and pulled it out, "Who the hell are you?" he shouted to the figure in the dark. The small figure slowly stepped out into the darkness and Troy was shocked at what he was seeing.

"Troy…" she whispered.

He couldn't believe his eyes… "Ella?"

* * *

><p>I just love cliff-hangers :)<p>

- Ashley


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: I was so excited about my last chapter, that I decided to go ahead and post the fifth one! :) Please review and let me know what you think! :)

* * *

><p><strong>Broken Paradise<strong>  
>written by missefron15<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

_Previously on Broken Paradise…_

_Troy reached for his gun and pulled it out, "Who the hell are you?" he shouted to the figure in the dark. The small figure slowly stepped out into the darkness and Troy was shocked at what he was seeing._

"_Troy…" she whispered._

_He couldn't believe his eyes… "Ella?"_

* * *

><p><em>::<em>

Her face was badly bruised like someone had beaten her to death. She had bruises everywhere and she looked a mess. Was he seeing things? "Ella?" he whispered once again, lowering his gun from her.

She gave a small smile but cringed when a cut on her lip spread. "Hi Troy." She spoke louder this time. She was holding herself because she was freezing. Troy noticed this and immediately took off his jacket and placed it on her small frame.

He opened his apartment door and ushered her inside. "You're dead…I'm seeing things…" he whispered as soon as he closed and locked his door.

Gabriella looked at the man she once loved. "I'm not dead." She whispered.

Troy rolled his eyes and got the hot chocolate down from the cabinet and started to make her a cup of it. He knew she hated coffee so he always made her hot chocolate instead. It was her favorite when he made it with no marshmallows but only vanilla and whip cream. "I can clearly see you're not dead." He remarked.

Gabriella sat down slowly and winced as pain shot through her abdomen. "I faked my own death, Troy." She whispered.

Troy stopped and stared into the brown orbs he'd grown up loving, "Why the hell would you do that Ella!" he shouted. He stopped making the chocolate and looked at her.

She looked at him, "I had to get out…I couldn't do it the normal way or I would've gotten fired."

Troy sighed and looked at the girl he once loved…still loved. "I need to call the police…no I need to call my boss."

Gabriella's eyes panicked. "NO!" she screamed. Troy was taken aback by her tone of voice.

"What the hell has gotten into you Gabriella!" he shouted.

She looked at him and sat there. This was a bad idea. She should have never done this. She hurt the most important people in her life because of her mess and now he was mad at her. He was more than mad, he was furious.

"Troy…I can't go back. Please you have to help me…" she cried, tear pouring from her eyes and down onto her cheeks.

Troy looked at her and saw the tears. This was not the Gabriella he once knew. This was a whole different girl. The girl he knew was strong and brave with the exception of her past. Why was she so afraid? He sighed and finished her hot chocolate and sat it down in front of her. "Do you know how worried your grandmother is? And to top it off, you haven't spoken to her in a year! What is up with that Gabriella?" he spoke angered.

She sighed and picked up her cup and started to drink it. "Henry." She spoke softly.

He almost didn't hear her, "Henry? Henry Marshall?" he asked.

She nodded, "How'd you know his last name?"

He sighed, "My mother had me look into him."

This time she sighed and looked into his cold ocean blue eyes that always made her heart melt into a million pieces. "I met him when I started to intern at the hospital. We hit it off. But we had a secret relationship because he was a resident at the time and he wasn't allowed to date interns. Well when I became a resident a year later and he an attending, we came out to our co-workers and the chief of surgery was actually okay with it." She spoke going into her story.

Troy sat next to his ex and sighed, "Continue please," the inner FBI agent in him spoke.

"Anyway, another year goes by and I introduced him to Nana. Well when I introduced him to Nana, your parents were there and he didn't understand who they were until Nana told them they were my ex's parents. He didn't like that one bit, Troy. That night he started to hit me." This angered Troy even more. No one hits his girl. _His girl?_ She wasn't his girl anymore…he shook the thought away and let her continue.

"We saw Nana again and then after the last visit, he told me to never speak to her again and I couldn't get out, Troy. He was buddy buddy with the chief of surgery and one remark to him and I could get fired. I had to stay because I was there to be a doctor because of my grandfather. I wasn't going to give up on my dream…" she spoke, tears coming down on her pale cheeks.

Troy sighed, "Why fake your death?"

She looked up at him with glazed eyes, "Because it was the only way out."

He nodded and looked down. "Who helped you?"

"My friend Ryan and Taylor. They are residents at the hospital. Troy they think I'm really dead. Ryan gave me the drug and then Henry and I started to fight and he hit me, he started to beat me up really bad. I didn't feel it though."

"Let me see." He told her.

"See what?" she asked confused.

"The bruises." He said quietly.

She hesitated. "I'm not going to hurt you, Ella." He whispered placing a hand on her arm.

_Ella_.

She loved it when he called her that.

She slowly stood from where she was sitting and lifted up her top. Troy let out a low whistle. He wanted to bash this guy's head in. Her abdomen was black and blue. Old bruises were in yellow and new ones were purple and black. He lightly lifted his left hand to touch her stomach and when he did she cried out in pain. "Fuck," he whispered. "I'm sorry, Ella." He told her.

"Don't touch them. It hurts, Troy." She whispered.

Troy was about to say something when he saw his phone light up with a new voicemail. He must have left his phone on silence as well when it was turned off. He picked it up and saw it was Chad. He looked at Gabriella and sighed. "Go take a shower. I will find you some clothes." She nodded. "Bathroom is on the left down the hall." He told her and she took off.

He called his voicemail and listened in on what Chad had to say. "Dude…your mom called me. Where the fuck are you? She said Gabriella's body is missing and that Rose called the police and called the LA FBI looking for you. And that Marshall guy is missing. No one can find him at all. The police think he might have something to do with this. Call me back ASAP." Troy hit the number 7 on his phone and it deleted the message. He went on to listen to his other messages that were from his parents, Keith Montez, Rose Darbus and the top of the iceberg, Joanne, Gabriella's mother.

He sighed and went to his bedroom to get Gabriella a pair of his boxers, tank top and a hoodie. He went to the hall bathroom and opened the door slightly to see that she was in the shower and then he placed the clothes on the counter and then closed the door again.

He then proceeded to the kitchen and grabbed his phone to call Chad. After the first ring, he answered. "Where the fuck are you?" was Chad's answer.

"Home," Troy muttered into the phone.

Chad sighed, "Did you get my message?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm calling you back," Troy told him.

Chad was sitting down at his desk just finishing his last case and sighed, "Dude, how you holding up?"

Troy didn't know how to answer that. The girl he loved he thought was dead was taking a shower in his hall bathroom at this very moment. Everyone was flipping shit when he knew the truth. "I uhh…I don't know….I don't think I'm going to get a flight home." He told his partner.

Chad was appalled. Troy's ex-girlfriend died and he wasn't going to go home? That son of a bitch. He was going to have to kick his ass. "What the fuck?" Chad shouted.

Troy sighed, "Some things are left in the past, Chad." And he hung up. He didn't want to hang up on his best friend and partner in crime but Chad couldn't know about Gabriella being here at all.

Chad couldn't believe Troy just hung up on him. That was it. He packed his shit up and got into his car and headed over to his best friend's apartment to settle this guy out once and for all.

Troy sighed as he placed his head into his hands. He couldn't believe that she was alive and not dead. He was so grateful that she wasn't dead but the fact that she had to fake her own death to get out of an abusive relationship was beyond him.

He ran hand through his brown messy hair and looked at his phone and saw he had a text from his brother.

_I can't believe this…._

He couldn't believe it as well and now he was going to have to lie to his family about Gabriella. He sighed and noticed he'd be sitting there for a couple of minutes staring at the text from Cade.

_Yeah, me either. Tell mom, I'll call her back later. Something came up and I have to take care of it._

He texted back and hit send and then received a text back.

_What is so important that you can't come home for the funeral of YOUR ex-girlfriend? That's messed up, bro._

Troy sighed and he figured this might happened with one of his family members.

_I'll be there, Cade. But they have to find her body first._

He texted back and waited for his brother to text back and when he didn't, he got a text from his sister.

_Nice going jerk. We didn't know Gabi's body was missing. Now Cade is flipping shit. Thanks a bunch, brother of the year._

Troy could just imagine all the sarcasm coming from his sister's tone in that text message. He sighed and just replied once more before putting his phone away for the night.

_I'm sorry, I didn't know._

He didn't bother to look at the last text message that Caroline had sent. He sat there with his head not resting on the back of his couch and he reached for the remote sitting next to him on the couch. He might as well have a distraction. He turned his TV on and saw that the movie, _"The Goonies", _was on. This was his favorite movie of all time.

"I love this movie," he heard her voice. He turned his head around and his blue eyes went towards her broken body. He saw the bruises everywhere now. All over her thighs and legs and her arms. She hadn't put his hoodie on yet and he could see the outline of her black bra under his tank top. She shuffled her feet as he looked her over and moved out his line of sight.

She went and sat next to him and watched as Mikey told the other kids to help him wrap Brand's workout equipment around him so he couldn't get up. She laughed when they did it and looked to see Troy still staring at her. She sighed, "It's really weird to have you staring at me."

"It's really weird to hear you laughing," he spoke softly.

She cracked a soft smile and then turned towards the movie. He sighed and turned towards the TV himself and started to think to himself. What was he going to do now? How was he going to pretend that he didn't know Gabriella wasn't dead? How would he react when he gets another call from Rose wanting his help? He just didn't know what to do.

He heard banging on his door and sighed, "What now?" he muttered and heard Gabriella giggle. He stood up from his couch and made his way towards his front door and opened it to have his best friend and partner walk in like nothing was wrong.

"Dude you are a fucking dipshit! I mean come on! You never hang up on me! Plus your family needs you right now and instead you are sitting in your dipshit apartment and you're with a fucking girl! Wait what?" he asked looking at the brunette staring at him wide eyed. Chad looked her over and saw bruises all over her arms, neck and legs. Geez…. He thought and then looked at her once again. "Why do you look so familiar?" he asked a loud.

Troy sighed and shut his front door and locked it. "Chad this is my ex-girlfriend, Gabriella Montez. She faked her death," he told his best friend and went into the kitchen to retrieve him and Chad a beer.

Chad was starstrucked. She faked her own death? "You're dead…" he whispered.

She sighed and looked passed him at Troy who was taking the beer caps of the beers for him and Chad. "I faked my death. I had to." She replied shortly to him. She didn't know this man, so why should she share her story with him?

Troy saw her edging away from him as soon as he stood in his living room again. He handed Chad a beer and the looked at Gabriella. "Ella, this is my partner in crime and best friend, Chad Danforth. You're safe with me and him knowing. He won't tell, okay?" he asked. While he was talking he'd managed his way over to her on the couch and sat beside her and held her hand.

Chad saw her calm down a little as Troy talked and touched her. He went and sat on the chair right next to the couch they were sitting on and continued to look at them. "I'm really confused, dude…" he whispered to Troy.

Troy sighed and looked at Gabriella, "You want me to explain it to him?"

She sighed and nodded reluctantly. "Sure," she whispered and turned her head to the Goonies.

Troy looked at Chad, "Where do I begin?"

"Take me a little back, when y'all first met and shit," Troy nodded.

"Well we met when she was born, really. I'd just turn three and her parents brought her home and I didn't really pay attention because it was just a baby. Well when I was seven, I saw Gabriella in another light. She was this pretty little girl and she was always fun to be around. But I was seven and didn't know what I was feeling," Troy spoke talking about their childhood.

Gabriella smiled a little bit into his story and listened to him continue, "Anyway, when she was twelve, her parents left her. Her mom and dad had already gotten a divorce a year prior and turns out her dad was gay."

"Your dad is gay?" Chad asked a little uneased.

She turned to him, "Yes he's gay. Is that a problem?" she snapped. She loved her dad just the way he was and she loved Drew. Even though she didn't know him or Keith that well anymore, she still loved them. But she can't say the same for her mom…

Chad looked at Troy and he had this look, 'DON'T MESS THIS UP' look and Chad sighed, "Nah, it doesn't bother me."

Troy smiled and looked at Chad, "As I was saying, I remember she was sitting on her roof the night her parents both left her in the custody of her grandmother who was also my drama and homeroom teacher. Anyway, we talked and it was the first time I ever saw her in a new light. I mean I was this fifteen year old kid and I was seeing her in another light. It was strange, once again. By the time she was fourteen, or fifteen, and I was eighteen, we started to date." He spoke softly.

Chad looked as his best friend's eyes glazed over at the talk of her. He saw her looking at Troy with such admiration and love. Their relationship never really ended well, he could tell.

"What happened, then?" Chad asked.

Troy sighed, "Well a few months after Ella graduated high school, I had applied to train for the FBI but it was in LA, but I couldn't go until I reached the age of 21. So right after my 21st birthday and Ella started college, I was gone. We stayed together for about a year after I left and the distance was too much so we broke up. It hurt our families pretty bad; my siblings love her as their own blood sister. My parents were shocked and disappointed that we broke up…and Rose…well she was just Rose," he commented and got a punch from Gabriella.

She winced at the sudden movements and her hand went to her ribs. "Fuck," she swore. When she swore it meant she really meant it. Troy knew that for a fact. He looked at her with such concerned etched into his blue crystal eyes.

"Ella?" he whispered.

She looked at him with glossy eyes, tears falling onto her face, "It hurts really bad," she whispered.

"What's wrong with her?" Chad asked, getting concerned.

Troy looked at him, "That Marshall guy has been beating on her." He spoke and then turned his eyes back towards his ex-girlfriend. "You okay? You want to go lie down?" he spoke softly.

She looked at him and nodded, "Yeah…but you only have one bedroom. I can sleep on the couch…" she trailed off and Troy immediately shook his head no.

"Nope…Gabriella you are taking my room. No ands or buts." He remarked and helped her stand up.

It took about five minutes for her to stand and he whisked her off towards his bedroom. He pulled back his neat covers and sat her down. "Do you need anything?" he asked softly, kneeling down to her level.

She shook her head, "No, I don't need anything." She whispered.

He nodded and helped her get into bed and stood up. "I'll check on you in a little bit to see how you're doing," he told her.

She nodded and then spoke, "You're always saving me." She told him as he was leaving the room.

He looked at her, "Somebody's got too."

She smiled softly, "I like it when you're my savior. It just makes everything better," she told him and he turned the light out.

"I like to be your savior too." He remarked and closed the door. He sighed and went back towards the living room where Chad was.

"Sorry," he told Chad.

Chad shook his head, "its okay man," he whispered. After a few minutes in silence Chad looked at Troy, "Dude what are you going to do? You can't hide her out here. What she did was a federal crime. She can't fake her own death and lead people to believe she's dead, that's immoral and wrong. She needs to get help."

Troy didn't like what Chad was saying, "Chad…don't start this shit with me. I'm going to do everything in my body to protect that girl. She's my life even though we're not dating anymore, she was everything to me," he told his best friend.

Chad shook his head, "You need to call the chief then. Explain to him what's going on. She did something really bad, Troy."

Troy snapped, "Fuck you Chad. She faked her death because of that bastard Marshall. If anything you should be helping me put that Fuckward behind bars. I am not going to let her get fed to the wolves after all she's been through. That girl is strong and beautiful and I will not let anything happen to her. I want that Marshall guy hung to dry, Chad."

Chad sighed and looked at his best friend defend the love of his life. He didn't want to be a part of this scandal. He would get hung by everyone he knew. It just wasn't right but this was his partner in crime and best friend in the entire world since training school. He had to do this for him. Now or never. "What do we need to do?"

Troy smiled, "Thanks Chad." He whispered.

"You love her, I get it now." Chad replied and smiled.

"I do love her….I really do." Troy spoke.

Gabriella smiled at the loud voice of Troy saying he loved her. It meant a whole lot too her and all she wanted to do was, "I love you too," she whispered and sleep engulfed her.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: I'm sorry for not updating. I will not sit here and write an excuse, for I don't have one. But here is Chapter 6 and I hope you enjoy it

* * *

><p><strong>Broken Paradise<strong>  
>written by missefron15<p>

* * *

><p><em>Previously...<br>_

_"You love her, I get it now." Chad replied and smiled._

_"I do love her….I really do." Troy spoke._

_Gabriella smiled at the loud voice of Troy saying he loved her. It meant a whole lot too her and all she wanted to do was, "I love you too," she whispered and sleep engulfed her._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six<strong>

She woke up in pain. She felt like her body was on fire. The fire was everywhere and the ache in her muscles weren't going away and it scared her. Emotionally and physically. She didn't know if she could move. Her face felt like it was burning and her stomach felt like there were a bunch of bricks sitting on top her it. She opened her eyes and looked at the time.

6:02 AM

Usually at this time she would be doing her rounds at the hospital but she was here in Troy's bed…hurting more than ever. Usually she would get hit or kicked at 4:30 AM in the morning because she would take too long in the bathroom or she didn't make the coffee fast enough.

She began to think of those painful memories and slowly but surely sat up as best as she could. She now saw it was 6:09 AM. She stood up and winced as her muscles rolled as she took one step. "Ouch…" she whispered. She wrapped her arms around her body and opened Troy's bedroom door.

She walked quietly towards the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. She was so used to doing this back in New Mexico that she felt like she needed to do this for Troy here in L.A. She looked into his fridge and pulled out some eggs, sausage and some hash brown potato mix. She saw he had tortillas and cheese as well. She was going to make breakfast burritos.

He felt the ache in his lower back as he stretched his muscles. Sleeping on a hard couch made him protest in agony but he'd sleep on this piece of furniture for a thousand years if it meant that Gabriella was okay and safe.

He smelled something familiar. Something that he hadn't had to eat in almost seven years. He knew that smell. It was her famous burritos.

He stood up and stretched his aching muscles, causing his white shirt to rise. He popped his back and his neck a couple times to get all the kinks out and walked towards the kitchen. When he stood by the entrance, he smiled at the sight of her cooking and softly moving around like she was afraid she might wake him.

"It's smells good in here," he whispered so he wouldn't startle her.

She didn't jump, but he did see her freeze up. She slowly turned her head towards him and gave him a small smile. "I wanted to make your favorite," she whispered back.

The bags under her eyes made him want to send her back to bed and get some more rest, but knowing her, she probably would put up a big fight. The dark bruise on her face was slowly but surely fading and it also made him want to hunt the son of a bitch down and kill him for hitting his _Ella_.

His _Ella_.

There he goes again. He shouldn't be saying that. She wasn't _his_ anymore. He sighed and ran his right hand through his brown hair and messed it up a bit. "You keep doing that and you're going to pull your hair out," he heard her say to him. He looked up and noticed she wasn't even looking at him but at the food she was making.

"How'd you know I was doing that if you were cooking?" He asked with a sly smile on his face.

She gave soft smile and then turned towards him. "I know you. You always do that." She whispered and turned the stove burners off. "Breakfast is done," she told him and he nodded.

"It smells really good, Gabi." He told her as they sat down to eat his kitchen table. She smiled and then picked at her burrito. Troy noticed her not eating, while he was on his second burrito. "Eat, Gabi." He told her softly.

She looked into his blue eyes and sighed. Even when she lived with Henry, he never liked her eating. So she always ate at the hospital with her friends when he wasn't around. But when they ate together at the hospital she would just buy some food and push it around on her eating tray and make it look like she was eating.

"I can't eat that good," she told her ex-boyfriend.

He stopped eating and looked at her. "Why not?"

"Henry never liked me to eat. He thought I was getting too fat." She told him softly, still picking at her food slowly.

This made Troy's stomach curl. How could someone do this to her? She was the sweetest person in the world, hell she still is. She's been through so much shit in her life and some guy comes barging into her life and tells her if she eats, she's going to get fatter? That just wasn't right and Troy wanted to kill the motherfucker. He sighed. "Gabriella…eat. You are so gorgeous. You are not fat, trust me." He told her, his blue eyes shining like the ocean.

She took that one look from his eyes and gave a hearty smiled and picked her burrito up with a little more confidence and started to eat it. She'd gotten so used to eating so little that if she ate way too much she might get sick. But she started to eat her burrito and found herself wanting one more.

She looked to Troy and saw that he was going on his third and when he looked at her, he gave her a smile, reassuring her that it was going to be okay. Everything was going to be okay.

So she grabbed another.

And she ate it.

* * *

><p>The police were all over her house. One officer was questioning Jo and another was questioning Drew and Keith. No one was speaking to her. They just left her alone to collect her thoughts. Her granddaughter's body was missing. What was she to do? Go on a mad hunt for her body? No she didn't think she could do that, even if she was old as the sky.<p>

Her eyes looked over the room and she noticed that The Bolton's were talking to the police as well. She even caught onto what the police were asking Jack Bolton. "…If you could just contact the FBI in Los Angeles, they can get my son and he can help find her." He demanded, his right hand running through his hair.

The officer, who was a woman, looked at Jack. "Mr. Bolton, they are in LA, I can't do nothing with the FBI in LA. Now if it was in New Mexico, I can do something but right now with what we have, we can't go to them."

"And what exactly do you have?" Jack asked tiredly.

The woman whose hair was pulled back tight into a bun sighed, "I can't discuss that with you, Mr. Bolton. This is for the family to hear." She told him, her green eyes searching into Jack's blue ones.

This was enough. Rose walked up the woman officer and looked at her badge.

_Officer Riley_

"Officer Riley, The Bolton's are a part of this family. They may know as much as possible." She spoke and glared at the woman.

Jo looked from where she was talking to Officer Carson and glared at her mother. She did not want The Bolton's into this investigation. She stopped. Why was she thinking these things? Why did all this hatred come forward? Was it because of her jealousy of Lucille? Was it because they had a life with her daughter when she chose not too? She couldn't be this way. She had to left her mother handle things. She was not Gabriella's mother. Not anymore.

"Mrs. Tyler?" Jo turned her head back to the officer.

"Yes?" she spoke softly turning her full attention to him now.

The officer looked at her, his hazel eyes boring into her. "When was the last time you talked to Gabriella?"

Jo stopped breathing.

She couldn't remember….well the last time she spoke to her was the day she left….left Gabriella behind with her mother and went to start a new life.

Jo looked at the officer. "Thirteen years."

The officer looked at her astonished but wrote down what she said anyway.

Rose looked at Officer Riley and the woman nodded at her. "Yes ma'am." The officer nodded.

Jack smiled at Rose, "Thanks Rosie." He told her and Rose nodded. When the officer finished talking to Jack with a promise to try and get in touch with the FBI in LA, Jack turned to Rose. "Have you heard from Troy?" he asked with worried sketched onto his face.

Rose sighed. "No, I haven't. I called and left a voicemail. Lucy called Chad and he said that he would try to get in touch with Troy as much as possible but we haven't heard anything since."

"Cade talked to Troy." The voice of Caroline Bolton spoke up.

Rose and Jack turned their heads to the young woman and looked at her. "When?" Jack asked.

Caroline sighed. "Cade was just texting him how he couldn't believe Gabi was dead and then Troy said he couldn't either and that he'd call mom and that something came up. Cade got mad and asked what was so important that he couldn't come back to his ex-girlfriend's funeral and then Troy told Cade that they have to find her body. That's when we found out that her body was missing. I texted him back and told him off sort of."

Rose sighed. "What is so important that he couldn't be here?" she asked.

Lucille came up to the three at that time. "Chad called. Said Troy was fine. He had his phone turned off because of the news. Troy knows her body is missing, he heard the voicemails we all left," Lucille spoke out of breath.

Jack looked at his wife. "Why don't you sit down? You've been running around like a chicken with his head cut off." He told her with a laugh.

Lucille smiled and nodded, sitting down next to Caroline. "Any news on what's going on, Rose?"

Rose sighed. Ever since she found out that Gabriella's body was missing, she immediately called the police and they were also up at the hospital questioning all the staff. "Not really…although….I need to mention Henry to them."

This was a sore subject for all of them to process. Lucille looked at Rose with a sadden expression. When she first met Henry, she knew there was something off about the guy even if he was the top Cardio Surgeon in all of New Mexico. "Have you told the police about him?"

"Told us what?" Rose turned her attention and smiled.

"Hello, Rocketman." The man laughed.

"It's Jimmy now, Mrs. Darbus." He told her, his brown shaggy hair getting in his eyes. He looked at his old drama teacher. "What have you not told us?" he asked, being serious.

Rose sighed. "Gabriella was dating a man named Henry Marshall."

Jimmy sighed and nodded. "Yes, we know. We have back-up at the hospital searching for him. He has disappeared as well."

Keith heard this and walked over to the group. "Wait what? Who is Henry?" he asked, and felt Drew behind him rubbing his back softly.

Rose looked at her ex-son-in-law. "Henry was Gabriella's boyfriend."

"I thought she was still dating Troy?" Keith asked.

"Honey, they haven't been dating since she was 18 years old." Rose told him.

His eyes widened. "What? How come I didn't know about that?"

Lucille looked confused. "Gabriella and Troy never told you they broke up?"

Keith sighed. "I rarely spoke to Troy on the phone and I don't know why Gabriella never told me."

Rose sighed and looked at everyone and saw that Jo was still talking to the police officer. "She was heart broken; she probably didn't want to tell anyone."

No one said anything for a few minutes until they heard Jimmy's radio.

"Jim, we found Marshall. He confessed to killing Montez."

* * *

><p>Troy looked at the woman before him as she sat on his couch flipping through his cable channels. Ever since she had cooked this morning and finally ate something, she seemed to be a little more at ease with him. That was some progress. He looked down at his iPhone and saw he had a text from Chad.<p>

_Called your mom and covered for your ass. You owe me. BIG TIME!_

Troy stiffed a laughed and messaged him back.

_Thanks buddy. I certainly do owe you. Free beer on me for a month?_

Within seconds of sending that out, Troy immediately got a reply.

_Make it two plus cheese fries at Paty's and you've got yourself a deal._

Troy smiled and texted him back.

_Deal._

Troy also saw texts from his siblings and parents but ignored them because they only wanted to know what was going on with him and why he wasn't home right now.

He sighed, placing his phone in his jean pocket and looked at the clock on his wall. It was five pm meaning it was about seven pm in Albuquerque. He walked towards his living room and sat down on the couch with Gabriella and watched as she kept channel surfing.

"Is that show good?" he asked.

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah. It's so much fun." She spoke sarcastically with a small smile on her lips.

Troy smiled. He loved her sarcasm. It felt like her again…when they were together seven years ago.

"I'm sorry." He told her.

Her brown orbs met his blue eyes and she gave him a confused look. What was he talking about? Why would he be sorry for her? She led this life after they broke up. She didn't get out of the relationship with Henry sooner, she was too late.

"For what?" she asked, turning the television off and turned her body slowly towards Troy.

Troy ran a hand through his unruly brown hair and trailed his hand down his face, rubbing his eyes in the process. He looked at her after he did that and sighed. "For breaking up with you."

That's what he meant. She thought to herself. This time she sighed and ran a hand along the hem of the couch. "You don't need to be sorry, Troy." She told him with a sorrow look on her face. "We both decided that breaking up would be the best for us." She spoke.

He shook his head. "No, I shouldn't have broken up with you. I thought that you wanted to break up because I hadn't been talking to you and we didn't get to visit each other that much." He told her truthfully.

She looked at him. "I thought the same thing…" she muttered trailing off.

He sighed. Now what? They were stuck. They broke up because each other thought that was what the other wanted and in reality it was never the truth. He needed to change the topic. "So how was medical school?" he asked horribly.

She laughed. "Thanks for easing away from the subject mister…" she spoke and sighed. "Medical school sucked. After we broke up, I took summer classes so I could graduate faster so I could get onto doing my internship at the hospital."

"How'd that work out?"

She sighed again. "It didn't. Nana got sick my senior year…well it was supposed to be my junior year of college and I had to stay and take care of her for a while. So I fell behind but it just meant I would graduate a few months later than what I wanted. In the end, I started to intern at the hospital and I met Henry…" she trailed off not liking this conversation anymore.

Troy shifted where he was sitting, seeing as though it was uncomfortable hearing her talk about Henry or just bringing up his name. "Can you tell me how that started? You and Henry?" he asked.

She thought about that. She didn't think she could. It was too painful even if it was not too long ago. "Troy…I can't." she whispered and grabbed the afghan from the couch and carefully wrapped herself up in the blanket.

He nodded. "It's okay. Maybe some other time?" he asked, rubbing her arm softly.

His touch…it made her feel alive…safe…most of all loved. She loved him so much, but she couldn't let him know even if he did admit he still loved her last night to his friend Chad. She couldn't tell him. She just got out of that dangerous relationship and she didn't think she could get back into another one even if she was with Troy seven years ago.

"Thank you Troy." She whispered softly.

He looked at her confused. "For what?" he whispered back.

She looked into his gorgeous blue eyes, "For being there for me when I needed to run away from my demons." She told him sincerely.

He smiled and scooted a little closer to her and touched her other arm with his free hand. "I'm glad you came to me…but I don't like the method you used. You really hurt your grandmother, Ella." He whispered.

She nodded. "I know…what should I do, Troy? I don't want Henry to come after me." She whispered, as she scooted even closer to him and laid her head on his chest.

He ran a hand through her soft brown locks and kissed her head. "He won't ever come after you. I can promise you that, Ella. And right now…just stay here and lay low. No one needs to know where you are until I find out what's going on and that motherfucker is caught." He told her and held her a little closer.

She nodded and sighed. "Thank you for everything….like I said last night…you're always saving me."

He smiled. "And you're always saving me."


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: Hey guys! Here is a new chappyyyy! :) I was bored and decided to finish writing it! :))) Hope you like it!

* * *

><p><strong>Broken Paradise<strong>  
>written by missefron15<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

_December 13th, 2011_

The room was barely lit. The two overhead lights that beamed down on him, made his forehead break out into sweat. Drops dripped out onto his arm and he hastily wiped them away the best he could with his hands that were handcuffed. He felt like he couldn't breathe. The room was also small. Very small for interrogation room.

He felt the beads of sweat keep dripping. His dark green eyes glanced around the room waiting for the cops to come in and question him like crazy. He didn't understand why he even confessed…oh well maybe because he was being followed by this bitch cop. And the fact he couldn't hold the guilt in any longer.

Gabriella was dead. He had killed her. He didn't even hurt her that bad. Something that was good went bad and now he was to blame. It was his entire fault. He was going to lose his license for this. He was for sure to go to prison.

The door to the interrogation room opened up and in walked a man with brown cropped hair with blue eyes that stared hard into the green eyes that belonged to him. "Marshall, right?"

He couldn't breathe, so he nodded. "Henry Marshall." He stuttered out.

The officer nodded and sat across from him. Henry moved his hands slightly but winced when the pain of the handcuffs tightened just a little bit more. "Does it hurt?" the officer asked. Henry looked at the man. He couldn't be that old. Maybe 25 years old. His nose was straight and his eyebrows were relaxed. His chin was pointed towards him and he didn't understand what to do anymore.

Henry sighed and nodded, "Do you think you could loosen them?" he asked smoothly.

The man sighed. "Nope. Sorry. You did the crime, I think you'll be fine." He laughed when he rhymed.

Henry rolled his eyes and sighed. "So…"

The officer sighed, "Alright, I'm Officer Zara. Let's get to business. Why'd you do it?"

Henry sat still and didn't move. "I don't know."

Jimmie stared at Marshall. He didn't know. Piece of shit. "Yes you do. Why'd you do it?" he asked again but this time with a sharp tone.

Henry looked behind Officer Zara and stared into the mirror. And of course on the other side of that mirror were people watching him. Who was watching? "Who is behind the double sided mirror?" Henry asked Jimmie.

Jimmie looked at him confused and looked at where he was staring. He didn't want to talk about the mirror. He looked at the mirror again and he felt like he should tell Marshall who was behind it. "Gabriella's parents, her grandmother, her other set of grandparents from her father's side and The Bolton's."

Henry's eyes grew when he heard The Bolton's were behind there. He hated them. He didn't understand why they were so close to Gabriella's family. It didn't make any sense. "Why are The Bolton's here?" he snapped.

Jimmie smirked. "Why wouldn't they be? That is Gabriella's ex's parents."

Henry looked at Jimmie. Her Ex's parents? He figured she had an ex and when he met The Bolton's he didn't know this part. "Who is her ex?" Henry demanded, growing angry.

Jimmie glared at him. "Troy Bolton. He's a federal agent for the FBI."

Henry's heart stopped. Her ex was an FBI agent? What the fuck? His green eyes went dark and he glared at Jimmie. "I killed her." He seethed.

Jimmie stared at this man with hatred. He loved Gabriella as a friend. He'd graduated with Troy but was good friends with Gabriella as well. He thought of her as a little sister he never had and now she's dead?... There was a knock on the door and in walked Donnie Dion.

Donnie was Jimmie's best friend in the entire world. They had graduated together as well and were good friends with Troy. "Donnie, what's up?" Jimmie asked.

Donnie's dark skin looked really dark in the room and his eyes were too dark to see. "The hospital sent this over. Before what happened. It's her tox screen report." Donnie told him, handing Jimmie the report.

Jimmie opened it up and looked through it but was shocked to see what was in it. "This is correct right?" Jimmie asked to make sure before he plowed this onto Henry's conscious.

Donnie nodded his head before he left the room quietly, shutting the door behind him as he went. Jimmie stared at the tox report again and then threw it on the table in front of Henry's face. "Read that to me, Marshall."

Henry rolled his eyes and looked down at the coroner report. "Gabriella Montez, age 25, died of presumed heart attack and was severely beaten. Tox screen report came back with an odd amount of…" Henry trailed off as he read the rest silently.

Jimmie rolled his eyes. "Finish reading it out loud." He snapped.

Henry gulped. "An odd amount of Sodium Thiopental. In conclusion, COD could be from suicide or murder."

Jimmie smiled to himself.

Rose looked on as Jimmie was questioning Henry Marshall. She hated the man already and she usually didn't hate people. She stood next to Keith and Lucy, but Jo had stepped out with her family because she didn't want to listen to the man's bullshit. Rose snorted and thought her daughter was being an ass.

"You okay, Rosie?" Lucy asked, as Jimmie slammed a manila folder down on the table in front of Henry.

Rose looked at Lucy and noticed the woman's concern written all in her eyes. "I'm fine darling. I'm just glad they have him in custody."

Lucille nodded and sighed. "But what about her body. Rosie?" she whispered and she saw Keith turn their attention towards the women.

"Yeah, did they explain anything further on that, Rose?" Keith asked, his brown eyes fading into Rose's soft eyes.

She sighed, "No. It's unexplained. They have everyone looking. Jimmie told me no one is leaving the hospital until everyone is questioned and they checked highways and other hospitals." She told them.

Lucille sighed, "This just isn't right, Rose. Something is terribly wrong and especially with that man, Henry." She shook as she said the horrible name.

Rose sighed as well. "I don't know anything about Henry except for the one time I met him about a year or so ago. He wasn't very pleasant and you know that Lucy." Rose spoke placing a comforting hand on her arm.

Keith looked at the women, "What was he like the first time you met him?" he asked softly.

Rose looked at her ex-son-in-law. "He was cold." She stated. She looked up when the door opened and in walked Drew, Jo and Jack. They stood next to one another and listened to Rose talk. "He didn't like it when Gabriella smiled at Lucy, Jack or the twins. He was very jealous."

Jack nodded in agreement. He came and wrapped his arms around his wife and held her. "That's right. I remember that. He wouldn't look me or Lucy in the eyes. He avoided us at all costs."

Rose nodded as well, "He held her arm like she was a toy. Like she couldn't go anywhere without him. She tried to go to the bathroom and he stood outside the door. That was before dinner. She looked so skinny when I saw her last…Gosh…" she trailed and looked towards the man that gave her the willies. She looked on when she heard him talking.

"An odd amount of Sodium Thiopental. In conclusion, COD could be from suicide or murder." Henry muttered and pushed the folder back to Jimmie.

Rose watched Jimmie smile. "Why is he smiling?" she asked.

Drew looked at Rose. "Sodium Thiopental… Why does that sound familiar?" he asked out loud.

No one could figure it out. "It stops your heart." They all turned to the voice and saw a tall white male with blonde hair and bright teal eyes. He stood next to an African American woman with brown eyes and they were both wearing scrubs. They had id tags on and they were from Gabriella's hospital.

Rose stepped forward. "What are you talking about?" she pointed at the man. He looked oddly familiar. "Who are you?"

"I'm Ryan Evans and this is Taylor McKessie."

* * *

><p>Taylor McKessie was going out of her damn mind. She couldn't take this any longer. She lied to the cops when she was questioned and she couldn't leave the room until everyone was done. Ryan was the last one being questioned on this floor and then they would be able to leave.<p>

She couldn't believe Gabriella's body was missing. Well she could….she knew exactly where she was…well just somewhere in Los Angeles.

She paced back and forth and when people passed by they would think she would rub a whole in the titled floor with her converse.

"Taylor stop pacing." Ryan's voice demanded. He pulled his phone out and started to text his sister Sharpay that he was stopping by her place on his way home.

Taylor smiled. "Finally! What did you tell them?" she snapped.

Ryan rolled his teal eyes at her and sat down on a chair outside of one of the hospital rooms. "Nothing. Just that we found her like that." He spoke and looked at a text that Sharpay had replied.

_Okay well I might not be home. Mrs. Darbus is at the police station. That bastard fessed up to killing her granddaughter. So I might go keep her company._

Ryan stared at the message before looking up at Taylor. "Marshall confessed, Tay." He whispered.

Taylor stared at the boy wide eyed and stood back up to pace again. "Oh, god. This is not good." She whispered to herself but Ryan clearly heard her.

He sighed and watched as she placed her hands on her light blue scrubs and continued to pace more and more. "Stop!" he yelled which got him some mean looks from a few nurses. "Taylor stop freaking out god Damnit. Now listen up. Gabriella wanted out so we gave her a way. She wanted this. Now if Marshall wants to confess, let him!" he told her as soon as he stopped her from pacing and pulled her back down to the seat next to him.

Taylor shook her head. "I feel so guilty Ryan! We have to go confess what we did!"

"No!" Ryan yelled. "We can't do that! We promised Gabriella. We have to let her start over."

Taylor felt like she was going to cry. The tears started to drip onto her cheeks and then started to pelt against the light blue scrubs. "I need to do something," she whined.

Ryan sighed. "We're not confessing. We'll go help."

Taylor didn't know what to say but this. "Thank you."

* * *

><p>Rose looked between the two. "What are you doing here?"<p>

Ryan sighed and stepped forward. "My sister Sharpay, she works for you."

Rose nodded. She'd seen Sharpay out in the hallway earlier but she'd told the young woman to go ahead and go home that everything was going to be fine. "I thought you looked familiar." Rose told him.

Ryan laughed, "Yeah well, she texted me and said you were here. Anyway…We know Marshall….and we were the ones who found Gabriella." He spoke pointed to him and Taylor. He looked at Taylor and he could see she wanted to spill the beans like crazy.

He looked at Taylor to get her ass up here but she couldn't move. Rose looked at the woman. "You answered my Gabi's phone, didn't you?" Rose asked Taylor.

Taylor didn't know what to say but nod her head. "Yes ma'am."

Rose laughed. "Don't call me ma'am. It's Rose. Everyone calls me Rose…well except that sister of yours," Rose spoke and pointed to R

He gave a hearty smile. "So what this about Sodium Thiopental?" Ryan asked trying to ease into the subject carefully.

Keith looked up at the two doctors. "They found it in her system. Officer Zara had that Henry guy read it out loud and we didn't know what it was, well we do now." He told them.

Taylor gulped. This was horrible! She felt like she couldn't breathe at this moment. "Uh…yeah. It can stop your heart, breathing…" she trailed off when Ryan hit her in the side. She looked at him and he gave her a look.

Rose noticed the look and when he hit her but didn't say anything about it. "Well you're more than welcome to stay. Jimmie is questioning Henry now." She spoke and turned back to the mirror.

Taylor and Ryan stood by the two way mirror and looked on as Henry looked extremely guilty but smug.

Jimmie sat down across from Marshall and stared into his jaded green eyes. "Why'd you do it?"

Henry looked at the cop and then back to the report. He was a doctor he knew what Sodium Thiopental was….Did she have that in her system before they started to fight? What was she trying to do? That drug can knock you out and make it look like you are dead…. "She faked it." Henry claimed.

Jimmie Zara was shocked at the words that came out of Henry Marshall's mouth. "Excuse me?" he asked.

Henry laughed. "The dumb bitch faked her death."

Taylor and Ryan snapped their heads together in shock. Of course Henry would notice this he is a fucking doctor after all. The best Cardio Surgeon New Mexico has seen.

"What are you talking about?" Jimmie snapped grabbing the folder and looking through the file. "There is nothing in here that says she faked her death. And beside her body is missing…" Jimmie trailed off.

Henry smirked. "The bitch put the drug in her system." He said pulling his body closer to the table and closer to Jimmie. "The bitch made me mad and I beat her. I confess to that. I beat women. Especially bitches like that tight ass hoe."

Rose kept her hands to her side as she watched and listened to this man call her granddaughter names. "That son of a bitch," she whispered and she felt Lucille's hand on her shoulder.

Jimmie felt the anger roll from his shoulders and into his fists. He didn't like him talking about Gabriella that way at all. "Stop." He demanded.

Henry smirked. "I beat her. And she faked her death. She is probably out there somewhere hiding from me so I don't kill her. Maybe if I see her again, I will hold her down…" he started to talk. He pointed a finger with his hands still in handcuffs, "play with her a little….and then strangle the bitch until she dies for putting me through hell." He sneered and laughed.

Jimmie couldn't take it anymore. He stood from his chair and left the room while Henry kept laughing. He went into the next room where Rose Darbus stood angry as hell. "I want that son of a bitch locked up, Jimmie!"

Jimmie sighed and looked over at everyone before he stopped on two people wearing scrubs. "Who are you two?" he asked.

Taylor and Ryan looked at each other and then back at Henry Marshall who was still laughing. He was crazy. He liked hurting people underneath his interior of being able to save lives at the hospital. Taylor couldn't believe it when Gabriella showed her the bruises and now here she was standing and watching Doctor Marshall act like a crazy person.

"We worked with Gabriella…well I did, and Ryan well he's Sharpay's older brother who she works for Gabriella's grandmother and we talked the other day when I told her Gabi had died and now we're here because Sharpay sent Ryan a text saying Gabriella's grandmother was here and so was Marshall and now we're here to see him talk." Taylor ranted.

Everyone stared at her like she'd grown two heads. Ryan rolled his eyes, "Anyway, what she said." Jimmie nodded and looked at everyone.

"I don't know what to do. He confessed to beating her up but he's making accusations about her faking her death. Could that be possible? I mean her body is missing." Jimmie spoke and then looked at Ryan and Taylor. "Is Marshall right? Could she have faked her death?"

The room was tense. Ryan didn't want to say anything but Taylor was freaking out. So he had to be the bigger man here. "Yes she could have." Ryan spoke carefully.

Jimmie nodded. "Alright. I'm going to go talk to my chief about this and get this search moving on and declare that Gabriella might be alive and she faked her death."

Rose nodded and felt Lucy wrap her arms around her. "We'll find her even if she is alive," she whispered to Rose.

Rose nodded and saw Keith wiping his eyes. "Keith?"

His brown eyes met her, "Yeah Rosie?"

"Our girl might be alive." She said hopefully.

Jo looked on and sighed. Her mother told Keith that. Not her. Maybe it would be best if she should leave and go back home. It would save everyone heartbreak.

Keith smiled at Rose. "Yeah…she just might be." he whispered.

* * *

><p><em>December 14th, 2011<em>

She felt safe and warm. Really warm at that. She opened her eyes and felt arms circled around her waist. She looked down and saw the afghan was still wrapped around her from last night. Last night? She looked up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already 8 A.M.

She looked up and saw Troy was fast asleep and had his head resting on top of her head. She hated to move from his grasp but she had the urge to pee and she was sort of stuck. "Troy," she whispered softly and it didn't help her case at all.

"Troy!" she raised her voice just a bit. He opened his eyes slowly and looked down at her. She gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry, but I really need to pee, Troy." She whispered.

Troy smiled and let her up so she could use the restroom. She halfway ran and closed the door shut behind her. Troy laughed softly and shook his head. He checked the time and saw it was 8:03 AM.

He had work today. Well his boss technically told him to take a few days off… He checked his phone and saw that it was Wednesday December 14th, 2011. Christmas is just around the corner…

He laid his head back and sighed…and then he shot back up. December 14th! How could he fucking forget!

It was Ella's birthday.


	8. Chapter 8

_Author's Note: I'm very sorry for the lack of update! I've been super busy! I've been trying to help my mom with her custody issue for my nephew and niece and tomorrow we have a home study, so hopefully it goes well! By the way, I'm making a playlist for this story and when I get all the right songs in order, I'll let you know when it will be available for download! Onward to chapter 8!_

* * *

><p><strong>Broken Paradise<br>**written by missefron15

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

He stood there in a mess. How could he forget her birthday? How come she didn't say anything to him? She always loved celebrating her birthday…

**Flashback**

"_Troy!" he heard her yell. He kept his eyes firmly closed with a small smile on his face. He heard her sigh and felt the bed shift._

"_Troy Dylan Bolton! I am going to murder you!" she yelled again._

_He ended up laughing and rolled over and saw his girlfriend sitting on her knees on top of his bed. "What are you doing, Ella?" he asked._

_Her brown eyes met his ocean orbs. "I needed you to wake up," she whined and he smirked. Troy grabbed Gabriella from her upper arms and pulled her down on top of him._

"_Well, I'm up." He whispered against her lips and then captured them with his plump pink ones. She sighed against his lips and kept moving with his movements. She pulled back after needing a breath of air. _

"_I'm glad you are up." She smiled and sat up and then stood on top of his bed. What she did next made Troy startle in laughter._

_She started to jump on his bed. "It's my birthday!" she squealed._

_He sat up in laughter. "Why are you jumping on my bed?" he asked quite amused._

_She rolled her eyes at him and smiled. "Because it's my birthday and I can jump on your bed if I want too, jump if I want too, jump if I want too, Ohhh I can jump on your bed all dayyy…" she sang an old song with her own lyrics that only made Troy burst into laughter and haul her down on top of him._

_His blue eyes looked into her soft brown orbs. "Happy Birthday, Ella." He whispered before capturing her lips with his own._

**End of Flashback**

He must have been lost in his thoughts because when he looked up there she was standing by the hallway with her arms crossed with a puzzled look on her face. He smiled at her and took a few steps towards her. "Happy Birthday," he whispered.

She looked at him and nodded. "Thank you," she spoke against her soft lips. He stood in front of her and then grabbed her softly into his arms.

"Happy Birthday sweet girl," Troy pressed a sweet kiss on her shoulder and smiled. "Happy 26th birthday." He kept her in his arms and didn't let go.

To Gabriella, this was the best present she could ever ask for. When she'd come from the bathroom and saw him looking down at the ground, she had guessed that he must have been thinking about something. When he told her happy birthday, it sort of caught her off guard. She knew it was her birthday but she didn't want to make a big deal about it. She was a year older, big whoop.

But when he told her happy birthday three times and kissed her shoulder, she was in the right place to spend her birthday. Spending a birthday with Troy Bolton would be like a little kid on Christmas seeing the brand new bike under the tree. It was exciting and wonderful to be with him. She needed this.

When she pulled back and smiled at him. "So what are we going to do today?" she asked quietly looking deep into his blue eyes.

He had to think for a moment before smiling. "Don't worry, I got it all covered. Get dressed and we'll go." He told her and she gave a short smile before grabbing her little backpack and taking it with her to the bathroom to change.

* * *

><p>Chad stared down at the paperwork in front of him. The paperwork that was filed when Lynn Matthews went missing. He was confused. Lynn Matthews, Henry Marshall's first wife disappeared shortly after supposedly finding out that her husband was cheating on her with his second wife, Martha Cox. He looked up and typed in Lynn Matthews into the computer trying to find a little more information out on her.<p>

He typed in her birthdate and then he realized that Lynn was exactly ten years younger than Henry. He went back into his paperwork and noticed that Martha was ten years younger as well. He noticed then noticed that Gabriella was ten years younger as well.

Was this Henry Marshall's motive? Get them ten years younger and keep them around for two-three years and then divorce them? Something was adding up. He divorced Lynn when she found out he was cheating, well that's what the divorce paperwork said, Chad had found online, surprisingly.

Chad looked into her filed and noticed that something was whited out under her medical records. He grabbed his office phone and dialed her physician. It took three rings before he heard a voice.

"Hello, this is Dr. Chelsea Barnes, how may I help you?" Chad heard the woman's voice.

Chad cleared his throat before speaking. "Hello, Dr. Barnes, this is Chad Danforth, I'm with the FBI out in Los Angeles, California and I was wondering if you had a moment to spare, I have a few questions about one of your patients, Lynn Matthews, or she may have went by Lynn Marshall at the time, seeing as she was married then." Chad spoke waiting for the doctor to answer his question.

He heard her have a large intake in breath and then let it out. "Mr. Danforth, I do remember Lynn. She was a good friend of mine…Uhh, she went by Lynn Marshall when she got married but changed it as soon as they got divorced." Chelsea spoke.

In retrospect, Dr. Chelsea Barnes was sweating bullets when it came to Lynn Matthews. Her friend has been missing for almost six years and she was quite sad to see that she hadn't shown her face. Chelsea swiped her short blonde hair behind her ear as she sat behind her desk. "Mr. Danforth…why are you investigating Lynn now, after almost six years?" she had to ask.

Chad didn't really know what to say. He sighed, "Dr. Barnes, Henry's current girlfriend, Gabriella Montez, passed away two days ago. From what I know from the Albuquerque Police Department, Marshall has been arrested for her murder and my good friend used to date Ms. Montez and wanted me to check out Marshall's past, including his ex-wives."

Chelsea sucked in a breath and looked around her office. "He murdered his girlfriend?" she asked quietly.

Chad sighed, "Well he confessed to beating her and that's what caused her death including her going into cardiac arrest." He told the doctor wistfully.

Chelsea sighed, "Mr. Marshall…was very abusive, Mr. Danforth. Lynn would always come to me after he hurt her badly. I would stitch her up and not even say a word because I was not going to sit there and judge her. I'd come to know her greatly and I wasn't about to doubt her actions towards Mr. Marshall." She told the federal agent.

Chad paused looking at the medical records, "Can you tell me your opinion on her disappearance?" he asked the doctor hoping to hear what she had to say.

Chelsea didn't know what to say to him. She had been quiet all this time and now someone was giving a damn about her missing friend and if he could find her…maybe her piece of mind would grow better. "Mr. Danforth… I believe Mr. Marshall…I believe he got rid of Lynn." She spoke quietly.

He was confused. "What do you mean, Dr. Barnes?" Chad asked clearly confused but pen in hand ready to write down whatever she had to say to him.

She sighed. "Mr. Danforth…Lynn was fourteen weeks pregnant when she went missing…" she trailed off.

* * *

><p>Her smile was all the way up her ears. He could tell she was extremely happy to where he had taken her for her birthday. "Do you like it?" he whispered huskily into her right ear.<p>

She turned to him, her eyes going wide with amusement. "I love it, Troy!" she whispered and turned back around to the sandy environment they were on.

Troy smiled. He'd called in a favor from a buddy of his and gotten the beach secluded for the day. He had a cute little red and black plaid blanket laid out on the ground with a picnic basket sitting right in the middle and little cushions to sit on, so their butts wouldn't go numb. The sand was a bit cold seeing as it was winter time, but it was also warm here in Los Angeles. He would let her go in the water though, because it was extremely cold this time of the year.

He grabbed her small hand in his large one and took her down to the beach where their little picnic was set up. He helped her to sit down, seeing as she was still sore from the beating that Marshall guy had given her. The thought of Henry made his toes curled. He hated the SOB that did this to his girl.

There he went again saying, _his girl._

But in all senses…she was his girl. She always was and he would never forget that. He grabbed a couple blankets that he had brought on his own and placed them beside the both of them before taking a seat across from her and opening the picnic basket. He smiled. His friend got everything he asked for.

"Why are you smiling?" her soft voice spoke. He looked up and noticed her hair was whipping a little around her face and she looked peaceful.

He gave her grin, "I have all your favorites." He whispered before pulling all her favorite foods out.

Gabriella was shocked that he'd gone to all this trouble for her, but she knew he loved her and wanted her to have the best birthday even though he didn't know she knew he still loved her like no other. She watched as he pulled mac n' cheese out of the basket. "I love mac n' cheese," she whispered and she saw him grinning at her.

"I know," he whispered and pulled out a bag of her favorite chips.

"Hot Cheetos!" she shouted and once again his face was lit with the biggest smile. "Is there milk too?" she asked wistfully looking into his blue orbs.

"Of course, I can't let you have hot Cheetos without your milk, now can I?" he asked and pulled a little travel mug that was still cold from the milk that was inside of it. He didn't understand why she loved eating those two things together but he wasn't going to judge her.

"Next you are going to pull out…hmmm…peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!" she spoke trying to see if she was right.

He laughed and nodded, "Well that's my favorite especially with the honey flavored peanut butter. I also got you some sesame chicken with some fried rice, and last but not least chocolate covered strawberries." He told her laying everything out. It was a weird combination of foods but it was all her favorite things to eat.

She felt like crying. He always knew what to get her even when she was down in the dumps or it was a special day to celebrate. She looked up, "What about apple juice?" she asked, feeling a tear slip.

He smiled pulling her favorite juice out. "I got that too."

She laughed but it felt like a sob because she was tearing up. She smiled, "Thank you so much, Troy…" she whispered not knowing what else she could say to him.

Troy looked at her. "You've been gone for nearly seven years of my life and I wanted to make this one day of your life special because today is your day. It's your birthday, Ella…" he whispered feeling the tears sting in his eyes.

She nodded at him with a hopeful smile on her face. "And I love every single thing about it." She whispered and then looked at the mac n cheese. "Can we please dig in?" she laughed.

He smiled and nodded. "Of course."

* * *

><p>Keith stood in living room looking out one of the windows and felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked down and saw his mother, Cora looking up at him with a small smile. "Son, your father and I are going to head on home. He's not feeling too well." Keith looked into her hazel eyes and nodded. They hadn't really been there for Gabriella in her life, but sent her money every year for her birthday and or holidays.<p>

Sure, they loved their granddaughter, but they weren't very social people. He nodded at his mother. "Okay, Ma. Tell Pops I hope he feels better and I'll see ya'll later on this week, okay?" he whispered to his aging mother who just nodded and gave her only son a kiss on the cheek and wished him a goodnight.

After his parents left, he felt the presence of another person in the room. He thought it was Drew but when he turned around he was staring into the green eyes of Lewis Tyler, Jo's husband. "Oh, I thought you were Drew," he whispered and turned back around towards the window sill.

Lewis gave a short laugh and nodded and stood a little away from Keith and looked at the window as well. "I'm sorry about everything you're going through, Keith." He muttered and looked on as the streetlights were starting to come one.

All day they had worried and worried as police came and went asking more and more questions about Gabriella and if she could fake her death. Rose had gotten another opinion from the Chief of the hospital saying that it was more than likely that Gabriella faked her death but she couldn't have done it on her own.

Henry Marshall was sitting in a jail cell with charges against him for assault and battery on Gabriella and maybe they might charge him with murder if they can't find her body.

Keith nodded and looked at Lewis, "I'm sorry you guys had to come down here for no reason." He muttered back.

Lewis looked at Keith in shock. "We came here for a reason, Keith."

Keith looked up, "Yeah for Gabriella….but in the back of my mind….Jo would have never come back if was for any other reason. She left this life behind when she and I divorced and left each other including Gabriella. Now I'm no saint…" he trailed off and looked back out the window. "I left my daughter too…but I always called and visited every chance I got even if wasn't much."

Lewis kept listening as Keith went on. "I love my daughter very much, Lewis." Keith told this man. "I don't ever regret having her in my life like Jo did. I knew a few years after Gabriella was born that Jo was unhappy but never said a word about it. We kept going and then I knew I didn't love this woman anymore…Hell…I was attracted to men. I kind of knew I always was but I didn't want to admit it to myself let alone my family."

Lewis sighed, "Why are you telling me this?" he asked quietly.

Keith looked up, "I want you to understand that Jo is happy…with you and her new life….shes not happy here, Lewis. She never has been. I love Jo, I do…I can put on a front just as much as everyone else…but she doesn't need to deal with this. I think it would be best if you and Jo took the boys and went on home. I'll take care of everything." Keith finally admitted.

He'd kept this down deep from the moment that Rose and Jo had a talk. He'd seen the ways that Jo had looked at Lucille and he knew that she still wasn't happy. She was jealous of this life because she resented every single bit of it. This wasn't a very big town and all the life she had in it a long time ago had been sucked out of her. She had a new life and she needed to just leave this one alone. Gabriella may be her daughter, but she never called…never wrote….never visited.

Lewis' eyes grew wide but he kept quiet. Since being here, the boys had been so confused and he was uncomfortable being here as well. He could also tell that Jo was seeing old memories and she had finally gotten over this whole town and her life behind. It might be selfish of Jo and him but Keith was right. They didn't belong here and they needed to leave. "Okay," he told Keith.

Keith gave a tight smile and held his hand out. "I'll keep you guys updated if anything changes," he told Lewis who nodded taking the information in.

Lewis walked away from Keith feeling like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. He walked into the kitchen and saw that Jo was sitting there with a frown on her face. "What's wrong, Jo?" Lewis asked coming towards her and sitting right next to her.

Jo looked up. "I heard every word Keith said," she spoke quietly and looked at into Lewis' green eyes. "And he's right. When I left here thirteen years ago, I wanted to leave the past in the past and start over. And I did start over and now I have the most perfect boys and you in my life…Keith was more a part of my daughter's life than I was. I just wish I could have been a better mother for her…but I wasn't happy."

Lewis nodded, running a hand through Jo's soft hair. "I understand, honey." He whispered and leaned forward to give her forehead a kiss. "I'm going to pack the bags and we'll leave as soon as I'm done. Book us four tickets." He whispered and got up to go get the boys and their stuff ready.

Jo sat quietly and felt someone come into the kitchen. "You're leaving?" she shot her head up to Lucille Bolton's voice.

"What are you doing here?" she asked quietly.

Lucille sighed and sat across from her old friend, Joanne. "I was checking on Rose and seeing if Keith or y'all heard any news from Jimmie." She spoke her motherly side worried sick over what was going on with Gabriella and if she was alive out there somewhere.

Jo looked into Lucille's eyes and she could see it. "How do you do it?" Jo asked her.

"Do what?" Lucille asked clearly confused.

Jo sighed, "Care for my daughter and mother when I clearly can't?"

Lucille sighed and looked at Joanne and couldn't figure the words to tell her. "When Troy brought Gabriella home as his girlfriend….I knew she would be a permanent fixture in my family's life. Jo…Gabriella and I grew close, yes. Rose and I grew close as well, seeing as I lost my mother to cancer when I was quite young. I knew Gabriella was struggling with what was going on in her life and she needed guidance and she didn't know how to ask Rose for it…so she came to me."

Jo nodded and continued to let Lucille talk. "Jo, when Gabriella got her period, she came to me instead of Rose because she was scared to death that she was dying. She was thirteen years old." She spoke quietly.

Jo thought about that. That was a year after she'd left her daughter for a new life. "When Gabriella had her first kiss, she came to me about it, Jo. Rose knew soon after seeing as Gabriella ran everything by me first before telling her grandmother." Lucille spoke and crossed her legs and kept looking at Joanne.

"When she was fifteen and admitted to me that she liked Troy, I told Troy to act on his feelings because the girl liked him back. Of course he asked Rose's permission before he asked your daughter out but Rose and I both agreed it wouldn't hurt seeing as Troy was older. When they became a couple…there was light in her eyes, Jo. Troy treated her with such care and oh my goodness, Jo, my son loved her so much…he still does, honey. She was happy when she had stability in her life." Lucille spoke.

"What about Keith?" Jo asked quietly.

Lucille smiled. "Gabriella kept in touch with him, Jo. She needed one of her parents and I e-mailed back in forth with him and Drew over the years to keep them updated so they would know what to get her for her birthdays or holidays. I tried to e-mail you but you never responded to my e-mails. Rose was happy to see that Keith kept in touch…but I could also see that Rose missed you too."

Jo lifted her head up at the remark. "I know about the e-mails….I just wanted to forget everything in this town, even if it meant forgetting my daughter, mother and ex-husband and my friends." She told Lucille.

Lucille nodded and took a drink of the glass of water she had in her hand. "Jo, Gabriella was okay…and she doesn't resent you. I know she doesn't. You just needed to figure yourself out before you could be able to talk to her. It took you thirteen years too long though, I might say and I can still see that you are still unhappy here."

Jo nodded. "I hate it here. I just don't like it."

Lucille nodded. "I know."

Jo sighed and stood up. "Tell my mother, I'm sorry." She whispered before going to find Lewis and book their flight back home.

Lucille sighed. "Oh lord…" she whispered.

* * *

><p>Gabriella watched the water ripple as wave's waves kept coming forward onto the beach. She smiled, feeling content at where she was in the exact moment. She shivered and felt Troy place a blanket over her body and gave him a small smile. She also felt him get behind her and wrap his arms around her small frame.<p>

They'd been out here all day just enjoying the beach and talking about what had been going in their lives except the part of her life where she was nearly beaten to death every time she tried to go to bed or she'd say something wrong…or just something that would make Henry mad.

She laid her head back against Troy's chest and sighed in content. "I feel so safe here in your arms, Troy." She whispered to him. The stars were starting to come out and she thought they were gorgeous.

Troy smiled and laid his chin to rest on top of her head. "I feel safe that you are with me too, Ella." He whispered and then kissed the top of her head.

"I'm sorry I didn't contact you earlier," she whispered after a few minutes of silence.

Troy shook his head but forgot that Gabriella couldn't see him do it. "Don't apologize. All that matters is that I have you now and your safe and sound." He whispered to her and kissed the side of her neck.

She loved when he did that to her. He was always so sweet and sincere to her. Never using her or tossing her aside. "Troy…I still love you." She told him softly and turned so she could look into his eyes.

Troy felt tears building in his eyes. He couldn't thank this woman right now in his arms enough for the things she had done and now she had just given him everything he could have ever wanted back. He leaned down and their noses were right against each other and they were looking into each other's eyes like the world was ending tomorrow. "I still love you too. Always and forever, my sweet Ella," he murmured before leaning his lips onto hers and capturing them together. She sighed in content and immediately kissed him back.

She felt his tongue begging for entrance into her mouth and she let him in, massaging her tongue with his. After what felt like forever, they pulled back, breathing quite heavily. "I love you so much," he breathed to her and smiled.

"I love you too," she whispered and captured his lips again.

* * *

><p>Sorry to leave ya'll here! But I just wanted it to end nicely!<p>

Next chapter we see a little more Chad discovering Marshall out and a lot more Troyella love…plus a little drama here and there

-Ash


	9. Chapter 9

_Author's Note: Thanks so much for the positive feedback on the last chapter! Keep an eye down below if you would like to hear my thoughts on Kristen cheating on Robert Pattinson! Also! I have a website up and running for any updates and all my stuff. Just go to my fanfiction and link in on that page. And I just finished reading the "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy, everyone. Oh my gosh….It was very sexual, you could say that…but I loved it. It kind of reminded me of Edward and Bella about how they could react around one another._

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><p><strong>Broken Paradise<strong>  
>written by missefron15<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

He sighed as he looked at the clock and saw that it read almost seven o'clock in the morning. He'd pulled another all-nighter and was tired as hell. He was still trying to figure out Henry Marshall and he still hadn't really gotten far except for the information that he'd found out on Lynn Matthews from Dr. Chelsea Barnes.

Chad looked down at his desk and looked at the timeline he'd put together from the information he had gathered. Marshall met Lynn Matthews back in 2002 when she was just 17 years old. They dated briefly before they got married when Lynn turned 18 in 2003. They were married until 2005, when Lynn filed for divorce because she found Marshall cheating with another woman. Dr. Barnes has confirmed that Lynn was pregnant in 2005 and that was the same year she went missing. Lynn was only 20 years old.

Chad rubbed his dark chocolate eyes and grabbed his coffee from beside him and took a long sip and then threw the cup in the trash seeing as it was now empty. He looked back at the timeline and continued to read through what he could make sense of.

A few months after Marshall is questioned about Lynn's disappearance, he marries the woman – Martha Cox – that he cheated with. At this time Martha was 20 years old as well and Marshall was 30. Marshall liked to date them ten years younger, Chad wrote on a sticky note and placed it on a sheet a paper. Nothing really came up about Martha because when he tried to find information on her…it was like she had disappeared off the face of the earth.

He looked through some more information and then realized a common factor.

Dr. Chelsea Barnes was both Martha and Lynn's doctor. He grabbed his office phone and then looked for the cell number Chelsea had given him just in case he needed any more information from her. Seeing as it was 7 o'clock in the morning, he was going to try her cell. He found her number and then quickly dialed it.

It rang and rang and rand until finally he heard a hoarse voice on the other end of the phone. "Hello?" Chelsea muttered.

Chad sighed and ran a hand through his curly hair. "Dr. Barnes, this is Chad Danforth again…I need to ask you another important question." He spoke waiting for her reply.

Chelsea sighed and sat up in bed and turned her bedside table light on. "What can I assist you with, Mr. Danforth?" she asked calmly.

"Were you Martha Cox's doctor as well?" he asked.

Chelsea froze. "Why are you asking about Martha?"

Chad sighed, "Dr. Barnes, Martha Cox was Henry Marshall's second wife…and your patient as well."

Chelsea sat up a bit straighter. "Yes, Martha was my patient but…Cox is not her real last name. Cox was her recent name change. Right after she turned 18, she had it changed it Cox because her real name was Martha Olivia Montgomery. She changed it because it was her father's last name and she didn't want to be associated with him at all." Chelsea told Chad.

Chad gave a confused looked at no one in particular. "How do you know this, Dr. Barnes?"

"I get to know my patients, Mr. Danforth. Besides she asked me if she needed to place her old last name or her new one on the patient forms. She never used Marshall as her last night, though."

He furrowed his brow. "Is it possible that…Henry and Martha were never married while she was seeing you?" he asked her.

"Well for one thing, Martha was never married. It's the first I heard of Martha being married to Henry. I knew Lynn was married to him but never Martha." Chelsea told Chad, rubbing her blonde hair back and out of her eyes.

Chad sighed, "I just don't understand this. Lynn disappeared while pregnant, then he meets Martha Cox and then it says from the paper work I dug up that they got married a few months after Lynn went missing and she started going to see you, Ms. Barnes."

Chelsea sighed. "I'm sorry I'm not much help, Mr. Danforth." She replied softly in remark to his statement.

Chad looked through the paper work and then froze. "Her last name used to be Montgomery?" he asked quickly, shuffling through papers.

Chelsea nodded but then realized Chad couldn't see her. "Yes, Mr. Danforth."

Chad knew why Marshall picked his girls. They were young and at some point in their lives they crossed paths because of their last names. "You said Martha changed her last named right after she turned 18, correct?"

"Yes, she did."

Chad figured it out. "Thank you for your help, Dr. Barnes. I'll contact you if I have any more questions." He rushed and quickly hung up before Chelsea could say anything.

Chad stood up and started gathering his paperwork and putting it in his briefcase. But before he left to see Troy, he needed to check one thing.

Where Martha Olivia Cox-Montgomery was living.

* * *

><p>As she lay in his bed, she felt at ease. It was a good ease and her body was relaxed for the first time in almost seven years. She thought she would never feel this way again with anyone and all it took was the same man she'd love her whole life to make her feel like this. This was love, she knew and he knew it. Being with Troy again, she felt whole and wanted again.<p>

She turned her head slightly to the right and laid her chin on her crossed arms. She watched as his chest raised and fell with his breathing and the quiet snores she could barely hear. His brown hair was messed up from sleeping, his eyes were closed, nose looked exactly like it did seven years ago and his face just looked…calm and relaxed.

He was content too, she could feel it.

She closed her eyes and let out a breath of air. She'd been here for three days, going on four now. Her birthday was magical last night with Troy going out to do the things she loved. After a good make out session, they lay in each other's arms, content and watching the water rise onto the sand on the beach. When they got home, they went straight to bed and just…talked.

Talked and talked until two a.m. in the morning. She loved it and now she was lying next to him and just enjoying being near him once again. She peeked her eyes open and noticed that his blue orbs were now staring into her soft brown eyes.

He raised his left palm and ran it down her cheek. "Your bruise is almost gone, Ella." He whispered quietly to her, massaging her cheek. She relaxed into his palm and lent her face into his hand.

She stared at him with such love. "Is it?"

He nodded his head and pulled his palm away. She gave a short frown and then saw him get in the exact position she was in. On her stomach, arms crossed, chin on arms and staring at her. "It looks a lot better. How is your stomach," he asked her, his blue eyes going to her shirt covered tummy.

She smiled, "It's feeling a lot better. It's still a bit sore but that's bruised ribs for you," she told him quietly and watched as his smile turned a few shades down. "What's wrong?"

His eyes looked at her worried expression and he shook his head, "Nothing. I just don't like that they are bruised. You should have never had them." He whispered to her.

She scooted closer to him and was arm to arm with him. "I'm fine, Troy. I should have gotten out ages ago but I didn't."

Troy sighed and just looked at her. "I don't want nothing to ever happen to you Ella," he murmured to the only girl he could ever love. His eyes grew glossy, "I love you too damn much."

She felt the tears in her eyes and then felt them as they rolled slowly down her cheeks. "I love you so much, Troy." She whispered and as soon as she said those words, Troy grabbed her face softly and pushed his lips on her.

She moaned as his tongue slid into her mouth and she responded right back, needy for his affection. Troy pushed her away a little and moved to hover over her and make sure to not press his body weight on top of her and continued to kiss her.

_Ding dong!_

Troy groaned, pulling back from his kiss with Gabriella and she gave him a hearty smile. He glanced at the clock and noticed it was 8:15 a.m. in the morning. "Who the hell is at my door at 8 in the morning?" he muttered, glancing down at his Ella, giving her a quick peck on the lips before hopping out of bed to answer his door.

He crossed through his dining room and into the foyer, reaching the door and pulling it open. He didn't have a chance to look at who it was before they barreled right into him, almost knocking him down in the process. He saw a flash of his best friend and partner in crime's brown curls and knew it was Chad. "Chad?" he spoke, noticing the deep dark bags under Chad's eyes. He saw a coffee from Starbucks in his hand and watched as Chad sucked down his coffee at ease.

Chad looked at his best friend and then shoved the manila folder he had dug up about Martha into Troy's chest. "I think we have our answer to Marshall."

Troy's eyes widened and clasped the folder into his hands and opened it to see a picture of a woman with long curly brownish/black hair, wide set eyes, a was a bit heavy looking, but none the less pretty. "Who is this?" Troy asked, his eyes looking into Chad's brown orbs.

Chad laughed, "That's Marshall's _second _wife, Martha Olivia Cox-Montgomery."

Troy looked at his best friend like he'd grown a couple heads. "Why do we need to know about her again?" he said looking through some of the papers Chad had stashed in the folder.

"She's the key…I think she knows what happened to Lynn Matthews."

"Why are you talking about Lynn Matthews?" Gabriella asked, coming out of the hallway and into the foyer with Chad and Troy.

Troy looked at Gabriella. "Do you know who Lynn Matthews is?" he asked her wide-eyed.

Gabriella nodded. Her eyes going from Troy to Chad. "I knew Lynn back in high school. Right after you graduated Troy, I went into my sophomore year, she was new to school and I helped her around for a while."

Troy looked at Chad. Chad had a weird look on his face. "Do you know Martha Cox?"

She had to think. Martha Cox? Martha was familiar but Cox wasn't. She saw that Troy had a manila folder opened up and there was a picture. "That's Martha Montgomery!" she pointed at the picture and looked up at Troy and Chad.

"You knew Martha Montgomery and Lynn Matthews?" Troy asked incredulously.

Gabriella nodded her head. She pulled her shirt down a little and looked at the two boys. "Okay, so I was in Scholastic Decathlon in high school, but I didn't join until sophomore year, that's how I met Martha. Lynn was new, like I said and she was very smart. I convinced her to join the Decathlon team and she did, but something was off with Lynn. She acted way older than her age and she even said she was dating an older man, that her parents would never approve." She told Troy and Chad, shaking her heads from side to side to get the story going.

Troy felt the wheels in his head start turning. Marshall found his girls from East High. Lynn, Martha, Ella and now who? "Was Henry ever distant from you, Ella?" he asked cautiously, knowing that Henry was a tough subject to talk about with her.

Gabriella felt her heart tugging. "Yeah…the last few months of us dating, he was real cold…angry…he was mean to me and when he would come home…he'd take it out on me. I knew he wasn't working like he said he was because I have friends in that hospital…they would tell me Troy." She whispered and looked into his blue orbs. "He was cheating on me…"

Troy shook his head. He didn't want to hear this but he needed too. "With who, Gabriella?" he asked, his inner Federal agent in him kicking in.

She sighed, "Her name is Kennedy Marrow…I also went to high school with her. I graduated with all three of those girls."

Chad was shocked and looked to see Troy was too. A thought went through Chad's mind, "Did you Dr. Chelsea Barnes?" Chad asked quietly.

Gabriella's face flushed. "Yes, I know her." She spoke meekly.

Troy raised an eyebrow at her. "How do you know her?" he questioned her, crossing his arms across his chest.

Her face felt like it was on fire. "Troy…she is my OB-GYN…I started seeing her when I got on birth control and then I had a pregnancy scare right after you left for L.A."

Troy's eyes widened. "You had a pregnancy scare and you didn't tell me?" he asked, anger creeping into his voice. Why wouldn't she tell him this? What if she had been pregnant?

Her eyes faded to the floor. "I didn't want to bug you with it. Plus, I wasn't pregnant, so it's okay, Troy." She spoke softly.

He shook his head, "It's not okay, Gabriella." He snapped. He sighed and saw Chad looked at him.

"Dude, give her a break." Chad told him and shook his head at his best friend. "She had a scare. It's not a big deal."

Troy looked at his Ella and saw her face in frown. Her eyes looked like they were going to poor down a rain storm any minute and he didn't want that to happen. He shoved the manila folder at Chad and walked towards Gabriella and wrapped her in his arms, his chin placed on top of her head. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. Its okay, I didn't mean to get mad. I wish you would have told me, but it's okay." He whispered to her and kissed the top of her head again and placed his chin back on top, rocking her in his arms.

She felt tears fall out of her eyes, "I'm sorry for not telling you," she whispered, feeling like she betrayed him.

"It's okay, baby." He spoke softly not wanting her to cry any more.

Chad snorted. "Well it seems as you two have gotten back together," he muttered.

Troy felt her body freeze. "Chad shut the hell up." He murmured.

"Just saying," rolling his eyes, Chad glanced at them and sighed, "I have an address for Martha. We need to go see her."

Troy looked at Chad, "How? Where does she live? I think we need to let Chief know what's going on."

Gabriella's brown eyes widened. "No! We can't involve anyone! Henry will know I'm alive!" she shouted at the two men and felt like her chest was closing in on her. Her eyes met the blue orbs of her former flame. "Troy, I just got you back. I don't want to get hurt…" she whispered back to him softly into his chest.

Troy sighed, "Gabriella…Chief can help us with your situation. I promise you, honey." His soothing words filled the air and helped relax Gabriella's body from shaking to a standstill point.

Gabriella looked up at Troy, "Can I trust him?" her soft words asked him.

His head nodded at her words and he smiled. "You can trust him. I trust him a hell of a lot. He's the one that mentored me and trained me for the FBI and he's the one that wanted me on his team, Ella." He told her and then looked at Chad for confirmation.

Chad nodded his head. "Yeah it's true…Gabriella." He spoke her name, feeling an odd sense of wanting to protect her like a brother should, but saw that Troy had her in his arms protecting her instead. Chad didn't want to see Gabriella go back into Henry's custody. That was one thing he didn't want and he knew that he had to stand by his best friend and help protect this girl.

"I'll call Chief now," Chad spoke, grabbing his cell and dialing the Chief's number.

After a few rings, a gruff voice spoke. "Hello?" Chief Sawyer Caine was not a morning person but seeing as he was in his late fifties, still in great shape, and had been at the LA FBI for over twenty years, being that he started out at the LAPD and then jumpstarted his training for the FBI, he was still not a morning person.

"Chief, it's Danforth. We have some issues…" Chad trailed off walking away from Troy and Gabriella letting them have their time together while they still could just in case something were to ever take that away from them.

Sawyer blew out a breath of air and looked at the time seeing as it was almost 8:30 A.M. "Danforth, these _issues_ better be damn good. I'm not in the office today, seeing as it's my son's eighteenth birthday." He growled out over the phone.

"Troy's ex, Gabriella…well she's not dead. She faked her death and has been staying at Troy's for about four days now." Chad spoke, the air coming out of his lungs and him breathing slowly so he could talk straight.

Sawyer raised his eyebrow. "She faked her death? That's illegal son, She must have had a reason, what was it?"

"Her ex, Henry Marshall, he was beating her up and she was tired of it. She and Troy dating a very long time ago and she knew he was an FBI agent, so she faked her death, got on a plane and came to LA…she needs our help, Chief."

"Is there any way, I could talk to her?" Sawyer asked and noticed his wife was still asleep.

Chad looked over at Troy and Gabriella, "Let me see if she'll talk to you." He muttered and put his phone on mute. "Gabriella, Chief wants to talk to you. You up for that?" he asked hoping she was because Chief could help a lot.

Gabriella sighed and then looked at Troy, who nodded his head at her. "Yeah," she whispered and walked towards Chad who unmuted his phone call and handed it to her.

"Hello?" she answered meekly.

Sawyer sighed. She sounded broken, like she'd been that way for a long time. "Gabriella is it?" he asked the woman.

"Yes," she spoke softly.

"My name is Sawyer Caine. I'm the head FBI Chief here in Los Angeles. Tell me exactly why you faked your death. I need to know this if you want my help, Ms.…" he trailed off.

Gabriella reacted quickly. "Montez. My name is Gabriella Montez…" she spoke quietly enough for Chief Caine to hear.

Sawyer grabbed a pen and a pad of paper from his side table and wrote down her name. "How old are you Ms. Montez?" he asked.

"I'm 26 years old, Mr. Caine."

"Good, now tell me why you felt the need to fake your death."

And then she told him. From the moment she knew he was abusive, to him cheating on her with Kennedy, to having her friends help her fake her death at the hospital and then leaving to come find Troy. "And now here I am…four days in and I'm staying with Troy, sir." She told him and let out the breath of air she felt like she had been holding forever.

Sawyer looked down at the notepad he had in his lap and looked at the few pages he'd written in. This girl had some story and he didn't think she'd get in much trouble for faking her death. Now the people she called friends, might get in serious trouble, but not if the judge had a heart. "Alright, Ms. Montez…If you don't mind…I'd like to see you and the two knuckleheads tomorrow ASAP in my office. I want to discuss a few issues about this Marshall guy." He told her.

She nodded and handed the phone to Chad, "Chief you still there?"

Sawyer sighed, "Danforth hand the phone to Bolton."

Chad sighed as well and handed Troy the phone. Troy took the phone and held it up to his ear, "Chief?"

"Troy freaking Bolton, why didn't you call me as soon as you knew about your girlfriend being alive?" Sawyer asked irritated.

"I'm sorry Chief, but…this girl if very important to me and I wanted to protect her. That fucking Marshall guy beat the hell out of her and she didn't want anyone to know she was alive but me." Troy spoke walking towards the window in his living room and looking out at the city.

"It's alright Bolton; just don't let it happen again, okay? Now I told Ms. Montez for you, Chad and her to come in tomorrow. I want to speak to you three about the facts and what we need to do with what she had done. We have to clean up the damages and we have to make sure that Marshall is put away for good, understand me?" Sawyer sneered clear to Troy.

Troy shook his head but realized Chief couldn't see him. "Yes, I understand. Thanks Chief." And he hung up the phone. He turned around and looked at Chad and Gabriella. He wanted answers to all this mess and why Marshall chose Gabriella. "We need to see that Martha girl. Let's go."

* * *

><p>Sorry for cliffy! But you met Chad and Troy's Boss, Sawyer Caine! :) Anywayyy….my thoughts on Kristen.<p>

If she really loved Robert like she claims she does, then she wouldn't have cheated. That's what I think personally. I for one would never cheat, I don't believe in cheating and no one should. Kristen is so dumb sometimes. I wouldn't blame Rob for not getting back with her. She messed up but at the same time, I also believe that people should get second chances but then again, she 'loves rob' but cheated anyway. It doesn't make sense in my mind.

What are your thoughts?

BTWWW! I have a website up and running for my fanfiction. Go to my homepage and the link is up. So…While writing this I was re-watching Lost because when it first came out, me and my mom were hooked and then we stopped watching it and now I'm re-watching it from the start! Netflix needs to update on The Vampire Diaries as well, I haven't seen all season 3 and I would love too, before the new season is on.

&& please check out the books "Fifty Shades of Grey" by E.L. James. I read them all within like three days and I was hooked. I can't wait for the movie. If you have any ideas for this story, PM me or review and let me know what should happen in this story and if I think it's a good idea, I'll add it to my storyline! I'll credit you of course, haha.

Thanks guys!

-Ashley


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